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The air 


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steel. 


of HaOIromtf 

c4 STORY OF PIRACY AND THE COMMUNE 

BY 

0. lialtpr lEntuiialp 



SrnaJimag Puhltalftng Qlumgang 
NEW YORK 


LiBRASYof OONGRESS 
Two Copies rteceiveJ 

MAR 30 1905 

* Copyrient tiitry 

* 

|O.USS ^ XXc. No; 


Copyrighted, 1905* 

BY 

T. WALTER ENTWISLE. 


All Rights Reserved. 


TO HIS 

FIEESIDE QUAETETTE, 

Edith, Frank, Sara and Esther, 
This Book is Affectionately Dedicated 


BY THE AUTHOE. 


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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. PAGE 

The Kefusal of a Nobleman 1 

CHAPTER II. 

In which Jacques Disobeys Orders 6 

CHAPTER III. 

The Perils of Jersey Forests 16 

CHAPTER IV. 

The First Day as a Pirate 24 

CHAPTER V. 

The Merchant Buccaneer 34 

CHAPTER VI. 

Evil Spirits of the Deep 41 

CHAPTER VII. 

The New Pirate Chief 47 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Jolly Rovers of the Sea 60 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Fate of Captain Hammond 66 

CHAPTER X. 

A Message from the Dead 73 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Bride of the “Leopard’s” Captain 83 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Vow of a Knight of the Brotherhood 89 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Bargain Counter of the Buccaneer 97 


VI 


Contents 


CHAPTER XIV. PAGE 

In which Government takes a Hand 104 

CHAPTER XV. 

From Ocean to Prison Cell 114 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Sentence of the Pirate Chief 122 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A Cavalier of the Republic 129 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

In the Shadow of the Guillotine 140 

CHAPTER XIX. 

On the Eve of Doomsday 146 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Rumble of the Tumbrils 156 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Climax of a Cruise 167 

CHAPTER XXII. 

A Question of Ownership 177 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Diplomatic Relation 189 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Vigilant Warships 200 

CHAPTER XXV. 

A Daughter of France 212 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Last Cruise of the “Catherine” 223 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The air rang with the clang of steel 


Frontispiece 




PAGE 

83 ^ 

135 


165 


“JACQUES LA CROMIE!” she exclaimed, 
“I am LUCILLE RENAUD,” 

“Ven you sail, Captain?” 


\ 


FOR THE HOUSE OF LaCROMIE. 


CHAPTEE L 

THE REFUSAL OF A NOBLEMAN. 

^^But I’ll make you a noblewoman/’ 
what use will that be to me?” 

^^Then, Bess^ you say you will not have me?” 

^There is no use, Jacques, in me trying to de- 
ceive you.” 

^^You mean to say that you care more for that 
Ben Loveland.” 

Bessie Turner made no reply to the sneer, but 
silently watched the figure of Jacques LaCromie 
as he wrathfully paced before her upon the beach. 
Bessie, a brunette of seventeen, with dark brown 
eyes, long tresses that hung down her back, a well 
rounded face with rosy cheeks, was a fisherman’s 
daughter. Her home was on the south side of 
Morris River Cove in Southern Hew Jersey and 
across the wide inlet that came in from the Dela- 
ware Bay was the farmhouse of Pierre LaCromie, 


2 


For the House of LaCromic. 


a Frenchman^ who had come from France to find 
a home in the wilds of America. Jacques, his 
eldest son, was a frequent visitor to the little 
settlement on the south side of the cove, and upon 
this occasion he had found Bessie upon the shore, 
so took the opportunity to protest his love and 
ask her hand. 

^^Bessie Turner, you may refuse me now,^^ said 
the Frenchman’s son, with a lowering look at the 
fair daughter of the fisherman, ^^but you will be 
my wife, though you say you care more for Ben 
Loveland than for me.” 

didn’t say I cared more for Ben,” she pro- 
tested. 

^^You might as well have said it.” 

^^And suppose I do?” 

^^He’ll never get you for a wife.” 

^^Go !” said the girl, pointing across the cove, 
her eyes flashing with anger. have heard your 
threats before, and I am not afraid of them or of 
you.” 

^^Bess !” hissed the young Frenchman, but she 
simply turned and walked up the beach towards 
her home. 

^^You will he my wife whether you want to or 
not,” he called out to her. 

She turned, pointed across the cove, and re- 
sumed her walk towards her father’s cabin. 


The Refusal of a Nobleman. 


3 


Hot with anger, Jacques hoisted sail on his fish- 
ing skiff, the LaBelle, and was soon heading across 
the cove towards the creek that skirted his father^s 
farm. A mile out he saw a sail heading in from 
the bay, and a second look showed that it was Ben 
Loveland’s new cat boat, the Vixen, which had 
proved herself to be the swiftest craft in the cove. 
He had beaten Jacques in from the fishing banks 
twice in a week, and this, with the fact that he was 
a rival for the hand of Bessie Turner, led the 
young Frenchman to the determination to get 
revenge. 

Veering around to port, Jacques, who was a 
very skillful skipper, ran his boat’s head into the 
wind, then let her fall off slowly, and sailed for 
some distance in a course parallel to the shore, 
all the time watching the movements of his rival’s 
boat, and calculating the distance that lay between 
them. Careening with the wind on her beam, 
Loveland’s trim -looking boat sped swiftly and 
gracefully over the waves, heading for the landing 
opposite the Turner cabin. 

Pointing outward Jacques went on a starboard 
tack that took him across the cove at right angles 
with the Vixen. The LaBelle was heavier than 
Loveland’s boat, and the Frenchman resolved to 
take chances. The Vixen was running a straight 
course, and with the wind on his port quarter. 


4 For the House of LaCromle. 

Jacques saw that the boats would meet midway 
in the inlet unless one or the other altered its 
course. 

^^Boat ahoy I” yelled Ben, as the skiffs ap- 
proached. 

The LaBelle kept on her tack, and the Vixen's 
helm was put to starboard to pass Jacques astern, 
but the wily Frenchman luffed a few seconds later, 
ostensibly with the intention of permitting Love- 
land to get out of the way, then put his helm about 
again. 

^‘^Have you lost your head, LaCromie?^^ de- 
manded Loveland, and he pulled his mainsheet to 
clear to starboard, but the boats struck the next 
instant. The bow of the LaBelle stove in the side 
of the Vixen, while Ben, who was standing in the 
stern sheets, was thrown overboard by the colli- 
sion. 

Loveland came to the surface quickly and 
caught the side of his boat, but she filled imme- 
diately and sank, leaving him swimming in the 
middle of the inlet. Without tendering his rival 
aid, Jacques coolly shook out his sail to the wind 
and stood across the cove towards his home. 

^^You contemptible coward cried the owner 
of the Vixen, ^^Are you going to leave me here 
to drown 

^Tt was your faulV^ replied the Frenchman as 


The Refusal of a Nobleman. 


5 


he sailed away. ^^You ran me down on purpose.’^ 

^^YouYe a liar !’ hotly retorted the swimmer. 

^^Just keep your own opinion of the matter/^ 
was the taunting reply of Jacques as his boat 
headed across the cove. 

Deserted by his enemy, Loveland derided him as 
he sailed away, then started to swim towards the 
shore. But the incident on the water had been 
observed from the beach by Bessie Turner, who 
quickly hoisted sail on her father’s skiff, and was 
soon by her lover’s side. Across the water the 
rescue was witnessed by Jacques, who hissed a 
threat to himself that she would some day be his 
wife, whether she wanted to or not, while Love- 
land, a passenger in the fisherman’s boat, was vow- 
ing vengeance upon the owner of LaBelle 
when next they met. 


6 


For the House of LaCromic. 


CHAPTEK IL 

IN WHICH JACQUES DISOBEYS ORDERS. 

Loaded with fruit and vegetables from the 
farm of Pierre LaCromie, the shallop Jersey Blue 
stood out from the landing on the Morris Kiver 
early the following morning for the Philadelphia 
markets and headed towards the bay. 

^^Now^ Jacques/^ said the farmer as the son 
hoisted saih ^^don’t take chances, but run in if the 
wind freshens too much.^^ 

Jacques made no reply to this injunction, but 
as the shallop sped away under the impulse of the 
breeze that caught the mainsail on the beam, he 
said to his brother Jean, five years his junior: 

^^Father is always afraid we will get a little 
wind. Shake out that topsail, Jean, and let’s get 
some speed to this old boat.” 

Watching the shallop until it was almost lost 
in the distance, farmer LaCromie returned to the 
house with his mind filled with nameless fears 
and forebodings, which he vainly endeavored to 


7 


Jacques Disobeys Orders. 

shake off. He said nothing to his wife when he 
returned to the house, but went out on the farm, 
but for some reason found it impossible to give 
much attention to his labors of the day. 

The wind blew freshly from the south, sending 
the white caps over the wide expanse of the bay, 
and the Jersey Blue poked her nose deep into the 
billows, sending the spray over her deck. 

^^Jaek,^^ suggested Jean to his elder brother, 
‘^hadn’t we better shorten sail? See how’s she 
listin’. That topmast will break pretty soon.” 

^^Sacru! Shorten sail, Jean? She’s doing 
fine,” was the reply. 

^^Where are you going, Jacques, you are headed 
down the bay?” inquired the young brother. 

‘^‘^We’re going to Hew York,” was the response. 
^^There’s nothing in the Philadelphia trip. We’ve 
made that so often that it is stale as goat’s 
milk.” 

‘‘^To Hew York ?” exclaimed the younger brother 
in astonishment. ^^Jacques, are you mad?” 

^‘Ho, my blue-eyed mate, not mad, but we can 
do better with this load of goods in Hew York 
than in Philadelphia among the Quakers, and we 
are going to sell this cargo if it takes a run to 
the West Indies.” 

^‘But father ” protested Jean. 

^^Yes, you’re always talking to me about father,” 


8 For the House of LaCromie. 

interrupted J acques petulantly. ^^He’s too blamed 
careful in all of the orders he gives. He would 
never have been run out of France if he had not 
been so easy with his enemies^ but he will find 
that we can do better in Hew York than up the 
river in Philadelphia. Besides we are going to 
get a bit of adventure.’^ 

^^Yes, and go to the bottom before we get outside 
the capes/^ replied Jean, looking anxiously to 
windward, where the white caps curled in an 
ominous way. Then glancing to the topmast 
that was bending with the strain put upon it by 
the canvas that was bellowed out by the wind, he 
urged his brother to take the topsail in. 

^^We’ll not get home for two weeks, Jacques,^’ 
pleaded the younger brother. ^^Lef s go back.’^ 

^^Hot this time, my sailor lad. WeYe going to 
make Manhattan and see the pretty Dutch girls, 
or my name is not LaCromie, formerly of the 
French empire, now a Jersey nobleman.^^ 

^^But what will father and mother think said 
Jean, with tears in his eyes. ^^They will mourn 
for us as drowned.^^ 

^^They will know better when we get back with 
the locker full of guilders from the Dutch,^^ was 
the heartless response. 

^^Better take in that topsail,^^ again urged J ean. 

Jacques simply laughed at his brothers fears. 


Jacques Disobeys Orders. 9 

but before the smile had faded from his face there 
was a crash, the spar snapped and hung with the 
sail flapping in the wind. Jean watched the mo- 
tions of the topsail with blanched face, but with a 
laugh Jacques told his brother to take the helm, 
and with the agility of a monkey sped up the 
shrouds and soon cut the broken topmast loose 
and pulled the sail in, though his work was made 
perilous by the swaying of the boat in the heavy 
sea. 

As the wind was still strong from the south, 
Jacques consented to drop anchor under the lee 
of the 'New Jersey shore, and wait for smoother 
sailing before going outside, and the remainder 
of the day and the night were spent just above 
Cape May Point. Jacques soon dropped off to 
sleep after the evening meal, but his younger 
brother lay in his bunk a long time weeping softly 
as he thought of the anxious ones at home. 

The morning dawned with clear skies and a 
good breeze from the west, and immediately after 
breakfast sail was hoisted and the Jersey Blue 
stood out towards Cape May. Jean again pleaded 
with his brother to turn back, but Jacques turned 
upon him so savagely that the younger brother 
sank back in the cuddy hole and said no more. 

^Tf you are afraid, Jean,^^ said Jacques con- 
temptuously, let you have the yawl and you 


10 For the House of LaCromle. 


can go home and I’ll take this cargo around to 
New York myself.” 

‘^No, Jacques, I’m not afraid, but I’m thinking 
how father and mother will be grieved when 
we do not get back by Wednesday or Thursday 
night.” 

^'Oh, father, again! It’s always Tather’ with 
you !” 

The wind freshened after the shallop had 
reached a point opposite Cape May, the little vil- 
lage that was destined to become one of the fash- 
ionable watering resorts of the Atlantic coast in 
the years to come. A few miles further on Jean 
called attention to a vessel that was some miles 
out, but was apparently heading in for a closer 
run along the shore. 

^^Going the same w^ay we are, Jean,” replied 
Jacques gaily. ‘Terhaps we’ll beat her there.” 

The boat, which was seen to be a bark, was some 
miles astern of the shallop, and the boys watched 
her with some interest. 

^^She’s being magnificently sailed, Jean,” was 
the comment of J acques, as he watched the stranger 
go about and stand out to sea again. 

The bark, which had a very shapely hull and 
rakish-looking masts, stood on her starboard tack 
only a few minutes, then came back on a long 
reach to port, and passed a mile astern of the 


Jacques Disobeys Orders. 1 1 

Jersey Blue. The boys could now see that her 
deck swarmed with men, and for the first time 
they noticed a cannon mounted upon her fore- 
castle. Then her ensign was run up. 

^^My God, the black flag exclaimed J acques. 

J ean, thaf s a pirate V’ 

The shallop was sailing five miles off shore 
from what is now known as Townsend’s Inlet, and 
as that was her only refuge, Jacques put his helm 
hard to port and determined to make an effort to 
reach the harbor; but five minutes’ sailing showed 
him the uselessness of the race, for the bark 
swung across his course, veered to starboard, and 
as she did so the gun on her forecastle belched 
forth. The shot whizzed into the rigging of the 
Jersey Blue, struck the mainmast, cut the halyards, 
and the mainsail came rattling to the deck. 

^^There’s no use, Jacques,” cried Jean. ‘^They’ll 
murder us if we try to get away.” 

^^They may murder us, anyway,” retorted the 
elder brother, and dashing into the cabin he re- 
turned with a pistol, and stood waiting upon the 
deck watching the boat that had put off from the 
pirate hark, whose name was now seen to be the 
Raven. 

^^You may as well put that toy away, my bov,” 
said an officer in command of the boat’s crew that 
came alongside. ^‘We want to see what you have 


12 For the House of LaCromie. 

aboard. We don’t fight boys unless they get 
troublesoinj. Anybody else aboard?” 

^^No/’ responded Jacques. 

^^And where might two such young mariners be 
heading for ?” 

^^ISTew York.” 

^^Where you from?” 

^^Morris Eiver Cove.” 

^^Ahem, your father accustomed to sending his 
children out on such trips as this ?” and the boat’s 
crew laughed at the sally, while the face of 
Jacques reddened under the taunt. 

^^Watermelons? Good!” exclaimed the oflBcer, 
as he looked into the hold of the Jersey Blue. 
^^We’re just a bit short of fresh fruit. Corn, by 
the horn spoon ! And canteloupes ! Here’s 
potatoes, quite a cargo. My boy,” he continued, 
addressing Jacques, ^Ve’re real sorry that things 
are so pressing in our line, but we’re too busy to 
put into New York for these goods, so we’ll save 
you the trouble of going there, too. Your father, 
no doubt, will be anxious about you, so we’ll un- 
load right here.” 

The shallop was pulled alongside of the Raven, 
and in a short time all of the Jersey Blue's cargo 
was transferred to the pirate bark. 

‘^Bring those boys up here, lieutenant,” said a 
commanding voice, and soon Jacques and his 


Jacques Disobeys Orders. 13 

brother were standing upon the quarter deck in 
the presence of a man of medium height, full 
sandy beard and restless gray eyes. His uniform 
freely trimmed with gold lace told of his station 
on the pirate craft. 

^^Your name?^^ demanded the captain of the 
elder brother. 

“Jacques LaCromie, sir/^ 

“Huh, French 
“Yes, sir.^^ 

“This is your brother 
“Yes, sir.^^ 

“How old are you, Jacques 
“Hineteen.^^ 

“And her 
“Fourteen.’^ 

“Too young,’^ mused the captain. 

“Bell V’ called out the captain in the same im- 
perious voice that had marked the entire inter- 
view, and in response to the summons the officer 
who had boarded the shallop came up and 
saluted. 

“That eldest boy is a likely chap. Keep him.^^ 
“And the light-haired boy 
“Too tender for this business. Send him 
ashore.^^ 

From the deck of the Jersey Blue Jean was 
commanded to get into the shallop’s yawl. He 


14 For the House of LaCromle. 

turned towards the bark as he stepped into the 
small boat and saw his brother at the side of the 
Raven, 

^^Now pull for home, young one,^^ commanded 
Bell. 

^^IsnH Jacques going with me?^^ pleaded the 
sobbing boy. 

‘^ISTo, he"s goin^ to stay with us.^^ 

^^Oh, donH kill him!^^ cried the youth. ^Take 
me, but don^t kill Jacques 

^^Oh, shut your clapper, boy, we^re not going to 
hurt your brother. He^s goin^ to be one of the 
crew. Now get off with you before we are com- 
pelled to jab you a little to make you go.’^ 

J acques ! J acques called the broken-hearted 
lad in an agony of grief, but his brother had dis- 
appeared from the bark^s side. 

^^Off with you, you baby bade the officer, and 
taking his seat at the oars, the weeping boy, 
blinded by his tears, bent to his task, and slowly 
pulled towards the shore, but soon began to row 
in a circle. 

^‘Here, my hearty, you’ve lost your reckoning,” 
cried Lieutenant Bell. You’re pulling out to 
sea. Turn round and go the other way. Now 
farewell.” 

The pirate bark, which had been lying with her 
head to the wind during the transfer of the cargo 


Jacques Disobeys Orders. 15 

from the shallop, now stood out to sea. Seated in 
the yawl, unmindful of his own peril, Jean La- 
Cromie watched the Raven until she had become 
a mere speck upon the horizon, then slowly pulled 
towards the mouth of the inlet. 


i6 For the House of LaCromie. 


CHAPTER III. 

THE PERILS OF JERSEY FORESTS. 

The sun was sinking when the keel of Jean’s 
boat grated upon the sand on one of the inner 
coves of Townsend’s Inlet. Weak and worn out 
by the tension of the day’s exciting events he 
stretched himself upon the shore and looked out 
to sea. There was nothing visible of the Raven, 
and as the blinding tears again came, the lonely 
boy, tender of heart and true, thought of his far- 
away home, and wondered if he and Jacques would 
ever see the faces of their parents. The pirate 
officer who had sent him off in the shallop’s yawl 
had given the lad nothing for the larder, and he 
sank supperless to bed upon the sand with the 
starlit sky for the ceiling of his bedroom, and the 
God who cares for lost boys as his guardian. 

The sun was streaming over the beach when he 
awoke. A vision of a strange man had come into 


I? 


The Perils of Jersey Forests. 

his dream, and beside him stood a young Indian. 
The warrior was tall, his body indicated great 
strength, but despite the natural cunning of his 
face there was still something kindly in the eyes 
of the stranger. Some of the neighbors of the 
LaCromies at Morris Eiver were Indians, they fre- 
quently traded with them, and the French lad 
felt no fear at finding the stalwart red man by his 
side. 

The look upon the Indian’s face indicated sur- 
prise at finding the white lad there, but he was 
unable to understand Jean’s explanation. The 
Indian pointed to his canoe, which lay upon the 
beach a short distance away, and he and his pale- 
face passenger were soon moving up the inlet into 
the mouth of a small tributary, propelled swiftly 
by the strong strokes of the dusky oarsman. A 
mile up the stream the Indian ran his canoe into 
a little bayou, leaped ashore, and motioned Jean 
to follow. He led the way a short distance into 
the forest of pine trees, and entered a village of 
about a dozen tepees. 

Three or four women and a number of children 
came trooping toward the pair, and soon the 
French lad was surrounded by a curious crowd of 
boys and girls, whose too close attentions were 
resented by the captive. His captor finally. came 
to his relief, and, pushing aside the noisy young 


1 8 For the House of LaCromle. 

Indians, led his prisoner to a wigwam, where a 
squaw sat weaving a basket. Faint and hungry, 
the lad tremblingly awaited the pleasure of his 
jailor, who addressed some words to the squaw, 
and leaving the tepee, she soon returned with a 
warrior who wore the American dress. 

''Where live?’^ he asked of Jean. 

The interpreter’s knowledge of English was 
very limited, but after much difficulty the French 
lad made him understand that he came from 
Morris Eiver, and that he had lost his way. The 
interpreter conversed for a short time with the 
captor of Jean and frequently pointed towards the 
east, then both left the wugw^am. Alone with the 
squaw, Jean made the woman comprehend that he 
was hungry, and she brought some Indian corn 
cake and a bit of fish, which the lad devoured 
ravenously, while the squaw watched him with 
evident interest and sympathy. 

While Jean ate his breakfast he noticed a group 
of Indians seated in a circle in the opposite tepee, 
and he became conscious that he was the subject of 
the earnest conversation. The powwow became 
very animated, and was ended by the chief spring- 
ing to his feet and brandishing his tomahawk, the 
other Indians imitating his example. A large 
circle was formed by the members of the tribe, and 
two Indians then rushed into the wigw^am where 


The Perils of Jersey Forests. 19 

Jean was tremblingly awaiting his fate, and drag- 
ging the French lad into the center, fastened him 
to a small pine tree, then began their war dance, 
yelling and brandishing their hatchets. The 
young warriors ran their knives around the head 
of the captive in imitation of the act of scalping, 
and under the terror of the moment Jean swooned. 

When the French lad regained consciousness a 
familiar voice was haranguing the tribe, and he 
heard the name of LaCromie uttered by the 
speaker, who was Blackbird, a friendly Indian, 
whose home was not far from his father’s farm. 
There were mutterings of discontent among the 
warriors, but the speech seemed to satisfy the old 
men, and the pair were permitted to depart. 

Blackbird plunged into the forest in a course 
that lay nearly east until a small stream was 
reached, then bidding the boy follow, they waded 
fully a quarter of a mile down the little creek and 
again plunged into the forest. 

‘Tndian follow,” was the only explanation of 
his guide’s action. 

Worn out by the nervous strain of the scenes of 
the morning, and the fatigue of the journey, for 
Blackbird had set a fast pace, Jean sank ex- 
hausted upon the ground when a halt was made 
for the night. As he thought of Jacques and his 
terrible fate — for tJean believed his brother wa« 


20 For the House of LaCromie. 


reserved for some horrible death — tears again filled 
his eyes and he wept bitterly. 

But his thoughts were turned upon their present 
peril by the actions of the Indian. A fire was 
kindled^ a bird that the guide had shot was 
cooked for. supper, and some berries served for a 
dessert. Then the dusky son of the forest gathered 
some sticks, fashioned them to resemble two hu- 
man forms, with their feet to the embers of the 
fire. In the gathering gloom the resemblance was 
quite marked. Eetiring a short distance from 
the fire Blackbird and Jean stretched themselves 
upon the ground, and were soon fast asleep. 

The boy was awakened by the crack of a rifie 
and a yell. A spy had found the camping place, 
had attacked the decoy figures, and had paid the 
penalty with his life. 

^^Hush ! no talk was the whispered warning 
of his guide, and obeying the pressure upon his 
arm, Jean crept after Blackbird upon his hands 
and knees among the pines. No sound was heard 
save the chirping of the crickets and the lone hoot 
of an owl. Slowly the Indian and his paleface 
charge made their way through the darkness and 
halted in a clump of trees. 

^^More Indian there,^^ whispered Blackbird. 

The faintest snapping of twigs beneath mocca- 
sined feet attracted the attention of the chief. 


21 


The Perils of Jersey Forests. 

and he pressed the arm of the lad as a signal to 
maintain silence. A dark form came close t5 the 
spot in which they were hiding, stood motionless 
as if listening intently, stepped forward a few 
paces and again listened. There was a dull, heavy 
sound, and the dark form dropped to the ground 
with his skull laid open by a blow from Black- 
bird’s tomahawk. 

Taking Jean’s hand, the guide led him swiftly 
through the forest. A yell of rage borne to their 
ears upon the night air told the fugitives that the 
dead man had been found by his companions. For 
an hour Blackbird pressed on and came to a clear- 
ing in the center of which stood a cabin. The 
barking of a dog announced that their arrival had 
been discovered by the faithful canine sentinel, 
but a peculiar whistle was given by the Indian, a 
window was shoved back and an answering note 
came from the cabin. A voice bade the dog be 
still, and the door swung open. As they entered 
the little hut, Jean recognized in the figure in 
hunting garb Bill Sanders, whose exploits were 
well known on the LaCromie farm. 

^^Sit down, boy,” said the trapper. ^^No dan- 
ger that them red varlets will trouble this place. 
They’ve tasted of this medicine too often,” and he 
tapped his rifle significantly. 

The hunter listened to Jean’s story with evident 


22 For the House of I.aCromle. 


interest, and learned from Blackbird that the In- 
dian had reached the village just in time to save 
the life of the lad, the orgies preparatory to the 
massacre being at their height when he suddenly 
entered the circle, kicked away the wood that had 
been gathered, and rescued the intended victim. 
The capture of the shallop by the Haven was of 
special interest to Sanders, who followed Jean^s 
narrative very closely. 

‘^Did ye hear any names?” asked the hunter, 
heard the officer that came aboard our boat 
called Bell.” 

^‘'Boll !” exclaimed Sanders, springing to his 
feet. ‘^The cutthroat !” 

But why the mention of that name so stirred 
the hunter was not imparted, for he pulled hard 
at his pipe and relapsed into a gloomy silence, and 
Jean thought he detected tears in the eyes of his 
rough but kind-hearted host. 

The morning found Blackbird, Sanders and 
Jean embarked in the hunter^s boat at the mouth 
of Denny’s Creek, near which the cabin was lo- 
cated, and soon the little craft was bearing north- 
ward along the coast on Delaware Bay heading for 
Morris Eiver Cove, twenty miles away. Anxious 
as he was to reach home, Jean dreaded the painful 
ordeal of telling his father and mother of the fate- 
ful voyage of the Jersey Blue and the capture of 


The Perils of Jersey Forests. 23’ 

Jacques, his brother. At noon he was at the door 
of the farmhouse that was never again to shelter 
Jacques LaCromie as a member of the family. 
But upon the pathetic grief of that household the 
curtain will be drawn. 


24 For the House of LaGromie. 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE FIRST DAY AS A PIRATE. 

With the cargo of the shallop^s stores in her 
larder, the Raven stood out to sea. Jacques had 
been ordered below when Jean was taken over the 
side, and he caught one glimpse of the agonized 
face of his fair-haired brother as he turned and 
uttered his pathetic call. A half hour later 
Jacques was summoned to the quarter deck by 
Captain Hammond. The Raven's commander 
surveyed him with critical eye, then asked: 

^^Can you handle a sword 

^^A little biV^ replied the French lad. 

^Tf you are any good you will stay with us. If 
not, you will be given a chance to walk the plank. 
McGonigle,^^ he called, addressing a brawny Irish- 
man, ^Tetch me a pair of swords.^^ 

The sailor tumbled rather than walked down the 
companionway and soon returned. Taking one 
of the swords brought by the Irishman, Captain 
Hammond handed the other to Jacques. 

^TRakes!^^ called the captain, and a thickset, 


25 


The First Day as a Pirate. 

bearded sailor of medium stature stepped forward, 
and in broad Yorkshire dialect replied, ‘^‘^Aye, aye, 
sur.^^ Captain Hammond passed the sword to 
Eakes, then said: 

‘^How, my hearties, let’s see the play.” 

During the brief preparation for the duel 
Jacques had an opportunity for a short survey of 
the crew. He estimated the bark’s company to 
comprise about one hundred men, and was sur- 
prised at the evident character of many of the 
sailors, whose faces indicated anything but the 
traditional murderers of the high seas. The ma- 
jority were young men, and seemed more like rol- 
licking mariners than a band of robbers as they 
gathered about the combatants, for they encour- 
aged the newcomer with good-natured badinage, 
and in the combat for piratical honors seemed to 
think he was outclassed by his sturdy antagonist. 

Pierre LaCromie had been a famous swordsman 
in his native land, and had taught Jacques in his 
early youth the use of the weapon. The lad had 
been an apt student, and Pierre LaCromie ad- 
mitted that his son was his equal as they fenced 
in the daily lesson at the Morris Eiver farm. The 
young Frenchman surveyed Eakes as the York- 
shire man waddled up and found that he was con- 
fronting a man of strong physique, but was not 
the equal of Jacques in agility. 


26 For the House of LaCromie. 

The sailor with a broad leer upon his face made 
a quick pass at J acques, but the thrust was parried 
so deftly that the crew cheered and leveled taunts 
at Rakes, who was now upon the defensive in the 
quick and sturdy blows that were aimed at him 
from all sides by the agile French lad. Goaded on 
by the jeers of his companions Rakes endeavored 
to beat Jacques off, and aimed a fierce blow at his 
arm, but it was caught on the ready sword of the 
French lad, and Rakes received a wound in the 
side. 

^^Rakesey, you’d better cover that bridbasket or 
yeesTl loose all the dinner to the Frinch lad,” 
called out McGonigle. 

Hot with rage the Englishman lost all his cau- 
tion, and trying for an opening, aimed a murder- 
ous thrust at Jacques’ heart. It was warded with 
a skill that again brought out a cheer from the 
crew, and the next instant the Yorkshireman’s 
blade fell to the deck. 

‘^Disarmed, shiver me timbers !” exclaimed 
Boatswain Kelly. 

^^Run him through, LaCromie !” commanded 
the captain as Rakes stood panting with the vigor- 
ous exercise of the combat. 

don’t strike an unarmed man,” replied the 
victor calmly. 

^^What !” roared the captain, with a terrible oath. 


27 


The First Day as a Pirate. 

you disobey? Now take care of yourself!^’ 
Captain Hammond pulled a glittering sword 
from his scabbard and faced the nobleman’s son. 
A quick and vicious blow was aimed at his arm, 
but it fell upon the deftly wielded sword of 
Jacques. The pirate commander rained blow 
after blow at his youthful opponent, who was 
gradually driven close to the hatchway, but was 
defending his life with a skill that enraged the 
captain, and made the crew wonder. The sword 
point of Hammond slightly pierced the arm of the 
French lad in one of his thrusts, and the wound 
brought to the heart of Jacques all of the fire and 
courage of his nation; with fierce attack he took 
the offensive, moved tp one impulse — the life of 
the man before him, who was bent upon his de- 
struction; and he reeked not the consequences. 
The air rang with the clang of steel above the 
hoarse shouts and oaths of the pirate crew, while 
fast were the blows and swift the thrusts, but 
neither duellist had gained any further advantage. 
For an instant the shoulder of Captain Hammond 
was exposed, and like a flash the sword of Jacques 
reached it. With a horrible oath Hammond 
lunged for his opponent’s heart, but his stroke 
was brushed aside and the sword of Jacques pierced 
the captain’s arm, and his sword was whirled from 
his hand. 


28 For the House of LaCromle. 

Breathing hard, with eyes shooting hatred and 
contempt, the French lad placed his foot upon the 
fallen blade and hissed: 

^^Eun him through, LaCromie 

Captain Hammond, his face flushed with rage, 
pulled his pistols from his belt. 

‘^Ho cried Boatswain Kelly. 

^^Who dares say no?^^ roared the pirate com- 
mander, and stalking up to the boatswain, he 
levelled the pistols, there was a double flash of 
flame and Kelly fell dead upon the deck with two 
bullets in his brain. 

^^Flog him for mutiny ordered the captain, 
pointing to Jacques. 

A dozen men seized the almost exhausted boy, 
stripped his shirt from his back and lashed him to 
the mainmast. J acques made no outcry. His 
arm was bleeding from the wound, but in his ex- 
citement he felt no pain. 

^^Are you men a pack of cravens?^’ he asked. 

won both of these fights fairly 

^^Take the lash, McGonigle,’^ commanded Cap- 
tain Hammond, ^^and lay it on well.^^ 

^^Captain,^^ replied the Celt, his face pale, but 
with determination written upon his countenance, 
^^yees have niver seen me run from Malay or 
Chinese, Briton or Amerikan, and begorrah, yees 


The First Day as a Pirate. 29 

niver will, but to bate sich a boy as that is not in 
my line.^^ 

A volley of oaths and a cowardly blow in the 
face was the captain^s response. 

^^Strip him was the order, and McGonigle was 
bound to a stanchion. ^Takes,’^ he called, ^^do 
your duty 

The blows fell mercilessly upon the back of the 
noble sailor, but his teeth were firm set, and he 
made no outcry. Then upon the bare back of 
Jacques the lash was applied, and when the brutal 
sailor had completed his task the young victim 
hung weak and bleeding, but no one dared in- 
terfere. 

^^By the Pole star V’ said a sailor in a low tone 
to a mate whose name was Piedmont, ^^you may 
toss me for a cooley if I don’t fix Eakes the first 
fight we’re in.” 

‘^Kelease them and lock them in the brig,” or- 
dered the captain, and Jacques and his new-found 
friend were taken below, while Hammond, fol- 
lowed by Bell, walked to the cabin. As the cap- 
tain passed the dead body of the boatswain, he 
said: 

^Toss that carcass overboard!” 

He was obeyed instantly, and the pirate crew 
threw the dead body of Kelly into the sea with as 
little concern as if the man had been a dog. 


30 For the House of LaCromle. 

said Captain Hammond, as he sat in his 
luxuriously appointed cabin watching the ship’s 
surgeon bind his wounds, ^^there’s grit in that 
boy.” 

^^Yes, captain,” replied Bell, ^‘^but it did not 
help matters to flog him.” 

^‘^The brat ! I did not flog him for his good 
fight, but for his insolence. That must come out 
of him.” 

^^The crew did not look at it in that way.” 

^The crew!” sneered the captain, with one of 
his characteristic oaths. 

^^Yes, the crew,” retorted Bell with some 
warmth. ^‘^They took due notice that he did you 
in the duel.” ~ 

^^Have a care for your own neck,” roared the 
captain, springing from his chair, ^^or you’ll dangle 
from the yardarm 1” 

^^Hever by your orders,” retorted the executive 
officer with equal warmth. ^^Come out on deck 
and order the crew to do it. They hate you, and 
if^I raise my hand they will mutiny in a minute 
and string you there in a jiffy!” 

‘^^Bell,” said Hammond, ^H’ve stood more of 
your impudence than I propose to take.” 

^^Do your worst,” sneered the lieutenant. ^^Why 
did you shoot Kelly?” 

^^Because I’m the commander of this boat.” 


31 


The First Day as a Pirate. 

Bell paced the cabin for a few minutes, and 
neither officer spoke. Then halting before Ham- 
mond, he said: deserted the British navy, cap- 

tain, to aid you in this cruise, and 1^11 not desert 
you now, but rave as you please, you'll regret that 
you have made that French boy your enemy.’^ 

‘^He’ll walk the plank to-morrow.^^ 

^^And you’ll be tossed into the sea like a dead 
rat.” 

Another volley of oaths was the response. 

^^Captain, wull you listen to reason?” said Bell. 
^^A"ou know that the British have put a price upon 
your head. Your crew can fight like demons, but 
any more perform^ances like that of to-day and 
they’ll not draw a cutlass or pull a lanyard.” 

Hammond, like all blusterers, was a coward at 
heart, and while he chafed under the words of his 
first lieutenant, he dared not resent them, for he 
knew the threat of Bell was not an idle one. He 
was too imperious to admit the truth of the ad- 
monitions, but he ended the quarrel by opening a 
locker and taking out a bottle of wine, over which 
the two discussed the details of the voyage. A 
half hour later the Ravens bow was headed north- 
ward. 

Apparently unconscious of his own wounds, the 
Irishman wiped the blood from the bleeding back 
of Jacques, bathed the cuts and welts with water, 


32 For the House of LaCromle. 

and placed the boy in a bunk, the only one in the 
narrow prison. Later the surgeon entered and 
administered to the needs of the prisoners. 

Jacques tossed upon his hard bed, his thoughts 
more upon revenge than upon his wounds. The 
fierce combats upon the deck of the Raven had 
thoroughly aroused his nature, and the farmer’s 
boy had been transformed into a buccaneer. He 
was among pirates, he was one of them, for he had 
demonstrated his superiority in a fight with the 
chief, and he thirsted for an opportunity to finish 
the work he regretted he did not perform when 
Hammond stood disarmed before him. Anger 
and hatred burned more than did the fever of his 
wounds. 

^^Jacques, me boy,’’ said McGonigle, creeping 
to the side of the bunk, after listening to the 
muttered threats, ^^be aisy wid your talk. This 
bark’s got ears and they all belong to the cap- 
tain.” 

^^McGonigle,” replied Jacques, extending his 
hand, ^^you’re a brave fellow. I thank you for 
your kindness to me to-day.” 

Jacques,” said the Celt, ^^Oi’m not in this 
business for pleasure. I ran away from Cork be- 
cause Lord Kelvey was ferninst putting me in 
jail for wallopin’ his boy because he struck my 
sister. Begorrah, I licked him right, and he de- 


33 


The First Day as a Pirate. 

served all an’ more than he got. I started for 
Ameriky^ but was captured by Captain Hammond 
before I got there. He gave me the chance of 
walkin’ the plank or jinin’ his crew. It wassent 
me that wuz bait fur the fish^ but I moight as 
well have jumped overboard. But hisC me boy/’ 
and McGonigle spoke in a low whisper. ^^Ye have 
got the right stuff in yees. Jist kape your own 
counsel whin ye git out of here. Yees will be a 
captain some day, or me name’s not Dennis Mc- 
Gonigle.” 


34 


For the House of LaCromle. 


CHAPTER V. 

THE MERCHANT BUCCANEER. 

Two reasons actuated Captain Hammond in 
changing the course of his vessel : to touch at some 
point on Long Island for water; and to learn, if 
possible, the whereabouts of the men-of-war that 
had been sent in quest of the Raven. So the 
pirate bark^s prow was turned towards New York. 

Five years he had preyed upon commerce and 
eluded the warships of three nations. He had 
been cashiered in the British navy for cowardice, 
and for a year was a prisoner at Portsmouth. 
While on parole he had planned the capture of the 
Raven, and gathering a crew from the malcon- 
tents, boarded the bark while a naval reception was 
in progress, and escaped in the darkness. The few 
men aboard of her who declined to enlist in his 
service he permitted to leave in one of the bark’s 
boats ten miles out from port, an act of mercy in 
marked contrast with some of Hammond’s after- 
conduct. A reward was placed upon the head of 


The Merchant Buccaneer. 


35 


the deserter by the British government^ and know- 
ing that he would receive no quarter in an en- 
counter with the English^ he gave none, and his 
career was marked by repeated acts of cruelty. 
Bell was an American by adoption, and had gone 
to Philadelphia, then to New Castle in Delaware. 
Restless, averse to work, but a born sailor, he met 
Hammond’s pirate crew during one of their orgies 
at Bombay Hook on the Delaware Bay, and boldly 
offered himself to the commander of the bucca- 
neers, who promptly gave him a commission. 
Bell was very fond of the society of women, and 
frequently sailed across to the little settlement at 
Morris River, and when he met Hammond’s crew 
was fleeing -from an enraged father, whose wrath 
he had very good reason to fear. The complement 
of the Raven s crew, which consisted of one hun- 
dred and twenty-five men, was filled up by the 
empressment of sailors from the prizes captured 
on the high seas. 

The morning of the third day after the initia- 
tion of Jacques as a member of the pirate crew, 
the Raven dropped anchor just inside a cove on 
the southern shore of Long Island. A little band 
of Indians, the only occupants of that part of the 
islaud, watched the boat’s crew that came ashore, 
but quietly withdrew without offering any resist- 
ance. In the cabin of the bark two men, Ma- 


36 For the House of LaCromle. 

kensie and Wentzel, the latter a Dutchman, were 
receiving instructions. 

^Wentzel/^ said Captain Hammond, ^^you’ll find 
Hans Schneider in Hew York, his office is at the 
foot of Broadway. Show him this.^^ And Ham- 
mond took from a drawer a ring in which glistened 
a small and very peculiar cluster of diamonds, 
bearing inside the initials ^^H. S.^^ ^^Just ask 
him how trade goes and what he knows of the 
movements of the war ships. 

With a mainsail set to one of the Ravens boats, 
and carrying a cargo selected from the spoil of the 
Jersey Blue, Wentzel and Makensie left for Hew 
York early the next morning. Captain Ham- 
mond paced the deck uneasily as he watched the 
mock trucker’s boat head along the island shore, 
then turning abruptly to his executive officer, he 
said: 

^^Lieutenant Bell, summon the ship’s crew.” 

The shrill pipe of the acting boatswain sounded 
along the decks, and the summons was promptly 
obeyed by the company of armed sailors. 

^^Eakes, bring McGonigle and LaCromie on 
deck,” commanded the pirate captain, and the 
awkward Yorkshireman shuffled down the com- 
panionway. 

Lieutenant Bell involuntarily clasped the hilt 
of his sword, then glanced at the brace of pistols 


The Merchant Buccaneer. 37 

in his belt. His lips were tightly pressed^ but 
he said nothing. 

^‘^McGonigle/^ said Hammond^ with something 
like a smile lighting up his harsh f^ce, ^^you are 
promoted to boatswain.^^ 

^^Thankee, sir/^ replied the stalwart Celt, touch- 
ing his forehead. 

^^LaCromie/^ added the captain, addressing 
Jacques, and the murmur of satisfaction that had 
attended the announcement of McGonigle’s ap- 
pointment was hushed to a painful silence, while 
Bell clutched the hilt of his sword, ^‘^you have 
been promoted to midshipman.^^ 

The cutlass of every sailor waved in air, and a 
roar of ^^Hammond ! Hammond floated out over 
the cove, while the crew crowded about with their 
congratulations. 

^^Serve extra grog,^'^ was the parting command of 
Hammond, and he turned and went to his cabin. 

^^Some sense in his pighead at last,^^ muttered 
Bell, as Hammond left the deck. ^^By all of the 
demons in hell,’’ — his favorite oath — ^^he or I 
would have gone had he tried to have carried out 
his threat.” 

In the meantime Wentzel and Makensie, togged 
out as farmers, were on their way to the Hew York 
markets. As they sailed through the Harrows into 
what is now the greatest harbor of the westerii 


38 For the House of LaCromie. 

continent, a sunset gnn boomed over the water, 
and the masquerading truckers saw a British flag 
lowered. 

^^Luff up, Wentzel,^^ said his companion, ^^and 
run alongside and see who she is.^^ 

At the bow was the figurehead of a woman, and 
the name Queen Bess, The truckers were hailed 
by an officer on deck. 

^^hTo melons like these be was ever growed al- 
ready said Wentzel, holding up one of the green 
specimens stolen from the shallop. 

^^Where from?^^ queried the officer. 

‘^^From Jersey, by shimminy, the only place 
that vas.^^ 

The barter was prolonged for some time, and 
Wentzel haggled over the price, during which he 
and Makensie gleaned the information that the 
Queen Bess carried fourteen eighteen-pound carro- 
nades and two long nine-pounders, with a crew of 
about two hundred men. She lacked the clipper 
lines of the Raven, which would prove a point for 
Captain Hammond, who never risked a fight where 
flight was possible. 

The store of Hans Schneider was still open when 
Wentzel and Makensie stopped in front of the 
building. In a little office in the rear of the 
store a candle could be seen burning upon a desk 
at which sat a man of short stature, straight brown 


The Merchant Buccaneer. 39 

hair, and eyes that were set beneath shaggy eye- 
brows. His beard was cropped short, while a 
flowing moustache had an odd caper of going up 
against his nose as he talked. 

Wentzel greeted the merchant in Dutch, and 
the conversation was carried on in that language. 

^^And what have you to sell?’"’ asked Schneider, 
and the moustache caressed the nose. 

^This,^^ cried Wentzel, and he produced the 
ring. 

^^Hush! Where’s Hammond?” 

^‘^Just outside the harbor up the coast.” 

^They say he chased the Katrina across the sea,” 
and the merchant laughed in great glee, though 
scarcely a sound escaped his lips, and again the 
moustache caressed the nose. 

‘^Yes, we kept the old sea bird busy,” replied 
Wentzel. 

^Tisten ! the Warwick will be loaded ready to 
clear in two days. She belongs to Cook, and is 
bound for London. Cargo of furs. Tell Ham- 
mond to put a crew aboard of her and run into 
Cherbourg or Havre. Great market there, and 
money in it. These American furs are much in 
demand in France just now. Carson beat me on 
tlie purchase, but if you fellows will do your part 
I can get my share all right.” 


40 For the House of LaCromie. 


And once more the moustache caressed Hans 
Schneider’s nose, and he laughed silently. 

^^How long has the Queen Bess been in the 
harbor ?” 

^^Three days/’ replied the Dutch merchant. 
^^Slow old tub, you can easily keep out of her 
way.” 

A list of vessels to leave port, and those reported 
bound for American ports was given to Wentzel, 
and after a few minutes spent over a flagon of 
ale the pair of pirates crossed the street, jumped 
into their boat, and were soon heading down the 
Narrows under the cover of the darkness. The 
sun was an hour high when the men reached the 
Raven’s side. Wentzel was closely questioned by 
Captain Hammond, who expressed great satis- 
faction with the result of the visit to New York, 
then poured out a glass of wine for each man. 

^^The greedy Dutchman wants the lion’s share 
of the spoils,” soliloquized Captain Hammond, 
after the sailors had left the cabin, ^^but I’ll take 
due care of him and his greed when the time 
comes. Cherbourg or Havre, hey ? He wants me 
to run my neck into the halter sure. But I’ll get 
the ships all right.” 


Evil Spirits of the Deep. 


41 


CHAPTEK VI. 

EVIL SPIRITS OF THE DEEP. 

The wind was blowing a five-knot breeze from 
the west two days later when the picket boats of 
the Raven outside of the cove signalled a sail i 
sight outward bound. It was the frigate Queen 
Bess, and two miles astern was the merchantman 
Warwiclc. A half hour later the Raven, with all 
sail set and flying the American flag, plowed the 
waters of the Atlantic Ocean with her bow pointed 
southward. Ten miles to leeward was the War- 
wick and her convoy. 

^^Who are you?’^ was the query run up by the 
Queen Bess. 

^^The General Wayne, of Baltimore/'’ was the 
reply, and the Raven sped on. 

^^Are we going to run away from that Brit- 
isher?’^ asked Jacques, with the natural antipathy 
to the English of the French people. 

^^Begorrah, Mister LaCromie,” replied the 
Irishman, to whom the question was directed, 
^^Captain Hammond nivir cares for too close an 


42 


For the House of LaCromie. 


acquaintance wid sich crafty but yees will see some 
fun afore we lave that spalpeen behind the frig- 
ate/^ 

The Raven continued on her course until the 
hulls of the vessels sank below the horizon, and 
only the sails were visible. 

^‘Eeady to go about came the order sharp and 
clear. 

^^Hard aport your helm 

The great spars swung like clockwork in unison, 
the spanker bellied out with the wind astern, a 
spinnaker swung out froin the mizzenmast, and 
the Raven stood east, in a course parallel with the 
topsails of the ships that loomed above the north- 
ern horizon. As the twilight settled over the 
waters the bow of the pirate bark was turned north- 
east. She set no lights, and the order was given 
for no loud conversation. At six bells the look- 
out announced: 

^^Lights on the port bow 

The Raven was sailing with all sail set, and 
when eight bells sounded from the frigate she was 
only two miles from the Queen Bess. The War- 
wick was outsailing the frigate, for she was three 
miles in the lead, and with the steady breeze was 
evidently slowly gaining on the war ship. The 
Raven, unseen by either vessel, sailed in a parallel 
course for over an hour, then stood off on a star- 


43 


Evil Spirits of the Deep. 

board reach. The time to strike had not come. 
When morning dawned a sail on the horizon nearly 
twenty miles to the southeast was visible to the 
merchantman and the frigate. 

The wind shifted to the south during the day, 
then to the east, but sank to a four-knot breeze 
when night came. 

Four bells sounded and again came the sharp 
command : 

‘^Eeady to go about 

The Raven swung upon her keel like a thing 
with human intelligence, and on into the dark- 
ness in a course a few points east of north she 
sped over the billows, her decks cleared for action, 
with the starboard watch on duty. Three hours 
passed and the message was sent from the look- 
out to Captain Hammond : 

^^Starboard lights dead ahead 

The Raven veered to due northeast and kept on 
her course until she had reached a point two miles 
otf the starboard quarter of the Warwich. Five 
miles astern the lights of the frigate glimmered 
over the waves. 

‘^McGonigle,’^ commanded the captain, ^'pass 
the word all hands armed on deck.^^ 

Noiselessly the crew came up the companion- 
way, their shadowy forms in the darkness looking 
like black demons coming from the pit upon some 


44 For the House of LaCromie. 


diabolical errand. N'ot a star glimmered in the 
heavens when the Raven reached a point two 
miles east of the merchantman, and the time to 
strike the prey had come. 

^^ISTow, Bell/’ said Captain Hammond, ^^pick 
your men.^’ 

The crew stood in two platoons across the deck, 
and in tones scarcely above a whisper the names 
of twenty-five men were called out. They re- 
sponded by stepping two paces forward. The first 
man selected was Midshipman LaCromie. Ad- 
dressing the picked company Lieutenant Bell said 
in low tones: 

^^We’re going to board that merchantman. We 
must take her without any noise. DonT any man 
use his pistol. Do the business with your cutlass 
if necessary, but try and cover your man and 
silence him. We want no outcry 

Silently the cutthroat gang crept into the long 
boat, and soon it dropped astern into the darkness. 
The Raven immediately changed her course, and 
describing a short circle swung around the War- 
wich, and bore down towards the frigate. She 
was sailing before the wind and bounded swiftly 
over the waves. Captain Hammond stood by the 
man at the wheel and impatiently awaited the 
signal. Five miles astern of the Raven three 
lights twinkled just an instant. 


45 


Evil Spirits of the Deep. 

^^Fire commanded a voice that came ont of 
the deep darkness^ and the port guns on the pirate 
bark thundered a broadside as the huge sails of 
the frigate came abreast, and the crash of timbers 
mingled with the reverberation of the cannon. 

On into the darkness sped the pirate, and with 
her deck splattered with blood, and amid the 
groans of the wounded, the Queen Bess put about 
and dashed after the assailant. A flash dead 
ahead and the boom of a gun pointed the direc- 
tion the fugitive had taken, and the guns on the 
bow of the frigate belched forth an answer. For 
three hours the pursuit continued, but the duel 
was soon at long range and ceased, and giving up 
the chase of an unseen enemy, the Queen Bess put 
about to rejoin the merchant ship. 

Soon after the silent crew left the pirate bark’s 
side and launched out into the darkness upon that 
inky ocean, they came unseen under the Warwic¥s 
bow. From the foredeck of the merchantman 
came the low notes of a song as the larboard watch 
whiled the lonely hours away. A dark form came 
over the ship’s side. Then another and another. 
Bearded faces leaned over the gTOup on the deck, 
and there was the gleam of steel and the outline 
of pistols, while low but sinister tones commanded 
silence, coupled with the threat of death. Had a 
demon crew come out of the deep? The silent 


46 For the House of LaCromie. 


forms moved stealthily to the hatches and closed 
them, they stood guard like grim sentinels before 
the cabin door of the slumbering captain. A pair 
of these sea demons took the wheel. Then three 
lights twinkled a moment from the stern of the 
ship. Far away in the wake a trio of little stars 
shimmered over the waters, then went out. Then 
came flashes of fire and a roar of guns was home 
to the ears of the crew of the Warwick, 

^^The job’s been well done, LaCromie,” said a 
voice. ^^There goes the Englishman’s lights 
around. He’s after the Raven, and is not up to 
the trick that has been played upon him.” 

And two men laughed lightly, but it was not the 
laughter of merriment. It was as though evil 
spirits* had tried to make merry. 

And below decks the starboard watch slum- 
bered, rocked in a cradle that with such a crew 
might mean their grave. 


The New Pirate Chief. 


47 


CHAPTEK VII. 

THE NEW PIRATE CHIEF. 

Wpiile Lieutenant Bell stood on the afterdeck 
of the Warwick watching the occasional flashed: 
that came from the combatants far astern, J aeques 
LaCromie was holding a whispered conference with 
the picked men of the Raven on the foredeck. 
Among them were Wentzel and Makensie. Some 
instructions were given in a low tone, and Jacques 
walked aft, and a little later was followed by all 
of the sailors who were not needed for guard duty. 

‘^We’re going to Cuba before we go to Cher- 
bourg,^^ said Jacques to Bell. 

^^Who said so?^^ queried Bell. 

^^I say so,’^ was the haughty reply. 

^^You?” sneered Bell. 

^‘Bcll, I’m the commander of this ship, and pro- 
pose to have my orders obeyed,” and Jacques drew 
his sword. 

As if by magic the picked men of the Raven 
crowded about the two officers. 


48 For the House of LaCromie. 


^^These are my men/^ said Jacques, and instantly 
cutlasses flashed and the cry rang out: 

^^LaCromie V’ 

^^You have betrayed me/^ said Bell, bitterly. 

Jacques made no reply, but extended his sword 
and the pirate crew placed their cutlasses upon the 
blade. 

^^You take the oath?^^ asked the new com- 
mander. 

^^We do,^^ responded the crew. 

^^Lieutenant BelV^ said Captain LaCromie, ad- 
dressing the astonished executive officer of the 
Raven, ^^you may ship as an officer aboard this 
ship. If not, you will be set adrift with the crew 
of the Warwick at sunrise.’^ 

^^Turn him adrift, begorrah,^^ called out Boat- 
swain McGonigle. 

^^Aye, aye,^^ yelled the crew. 

^^Hang him to the yardarm cried another, and 
the men gave instant assent to the proposition. 

^^1^0, no, men,^^ replied Captain LaCromie. 
^^We’ll not take his life; not now. Put him in 
irons,^^ and the order w^as quickly obeyed, and in 
no gentle manner. 

The bow of the Warwick was turned southward, 
and under the influence of the east wind that was 
still blowing stiffly, she sped on her course. The 


The New Pirate Chief. 


49 

pirate career of Captain Jacques LaCromie had 
begun. 

Captain Wollersheim awakened to find himself 
a prisoner and his ship a pirate prize. At sun- 
rise he was waited upon by the new commander of 
the Warwick^ who with great sang froid told of 
the misfortune that had befallen him and his 
crew. 

^^Captain Wollersheim/^ said Jacques, saluting 
with mock ceremony, ‘^it becomes necessary for me 
to inform you that this is my ship. Sorry to part 
with such good company, but we will be under the 
necessity of reducing the size of this crew.^^ 

^^Who are you?^^ demanded the astonished mar- 
iner. 

am Captain LaCromie, and I took the oppor- 
tunity to call last night while you were asleep. I 
have been looking for a good ship, and this is very 
much to my liking. No harm has come to the 
men on the larboard watch, and the notion that 
we propose to butcher you is very much out of the 
way. You will please let me have the keys to all 
of the lockers, captain.’^ 

The Warwick's late commander pointed gloom- 
ily to the table where a bunch of keys lay, and 
sitting upon the side of his berth, buried his head 
in his hands and groaned aloud. 

^^Where was the Queen Bess and what was she 


50 For the House of LaCromle.. 

doing when you got aboard of this ship ?” he asked 
after a few minutes of silence, during w'hich Cap- 
tain LaCromie was examining the lockers. 

‘^She w^as kept busy with some other company/^ 
was the gay reply, ^^and I did not have time for 
two social calls in one night, and as she was not 
going my way we were compelled to part com- 
pany. You are well fixed with cash and wanes, 
two requisites for good cheer aboard ship. Mess 
will be served by the ship’s cook, and we will then 
w^ant to see you all on deck.^^ And with this 
Captain LaCromie left the cabin. 

An hour later the officers and crew of the War- 
wick w^ere called on deck and ranged along the 
ship's side. Captain LaCromie addressed them. 

‘^Any of the men who will volunteer with us I 
will take. I promise you plenty of money and as 
much excitement as you wish.^^ 

He paused, and five of the Warwick's sailors 
stepped out and walked tow^ards the young com- 
mander. 

^^Bell,^^ said LaCromie, ^^you did not think my 
time would come so soon, or come at all when you 
and Hammond played the sneak when I won the 
duel. You could have stopped the indignity that 
was offered to McGonigle and myself had you 
washed to do it. You may have sole command of 
a boat/^ 


The New Pirate Chief. 


51 


LaCromie turned to McGonigle and a dory was 
lowered from the davits. The irons w^ere taken 
from the lieutenant^ he was placed in the small 
boat, and the frail craft was set adrift on the 
ocean, its occupant cursing the fate that placed 
him at the mercy of his secret foe. 

Captain Wollersheim was placed in the long 
boat of the Raven in which the pirate crew had 
come to the ship, his officers and crew came over 
the ship’s side one by one, provisions were put 
aboard, and they were cast off, miles from the 
shore. Not a word was said, the boat dropped 
astern, then became a mere speck upon the mighty 
ocean and soon disappeared from view. 

Captain LaCromie and Makensie, his first offi- 
cer, then began an examination of the cargo of the 
Warwick, which was found to comprise furs, gold 
and silver ore, many Indian trappings, hides and 
ship’s stores for six months. The positions of the 
crew were decided at the brief conference before 
Bell was deposed and McGonigle at his own re- 
quest was made boatswain. The necessity of ar- 
mament was imperative, and it was resolved to 
cruise in the West Indies. Two weeks later she 
sailed under the guns of Morro Castle into the 
harbor of Havana, Cuba, flying the British flag. 
A liberal purse in the hands of the Spanish cus- 
toms officer overcame any seeming irregularity in 


52 For the House of LaCromle. 

the ship’s papers, and Captain LaCromie and 
Makensie went ashore. They passed along the 
wharves for a square, crossed the government plaza, 
and soon were in the office of Carlos de Alvarez. 
Jacques addressed him in French and exhibited a 
slip of paper. 

^"^Ah, my friend Schneider,” said the sehor. 
^Tde’s a trusty man. But what are your wishes, 
captain ?” 

‘^AVhat’s coming this way?” 

^^The French ship Yersailles. She has a rich 
cargo, but she is armed. You would have trouble 
with her.” 

^AVhen is she due?” 

‘‘^Should be here in about ten days.” 

Jacques sat in thought for a few minutes, and 
the Spanish official with keen black eyes studied 
the face before him. The scrutiny, though brief, 
seemed to satisfy him. The silence did not last 
long, for the keen wit of the young Frenchman 
soon hit upon an expedient. 

^^Sehor,” he replied to the question he saw writ- 
ten upon the Spaniard’s face, ^There is large 
money in this for all of us. You say the Yer- 
sailles has an armament. Good ! The Y^arwich 
has none, though she’s a fine ship. I’ll get that 
French ship, you sell my ship to the government 


The New Pirate Chief. 


53 

for a privateer. You can fit her out, paint her 
up and no one will know her.^^ 

Senor Alvarez’s eyes sparkled, and the smiles 
chased each other across his face like sunbeams 
through cloud rifts. 

‘^^Good !” he exclaimed. But the shadows came 
again. ^Tut we will need the help of Captain 
General Agramonte in this business. He is all 
right though if we approach him properly.” 

Alvarez dispatched a slave with a note to Agra- 
monte, who sent a reply that he would be pleased 
to see the senor and Captain LaCromie at his 
office an hour later. 

The Captain-General, a tall, well-formed offi- 
cer, with fine military bearing, his breast glitter- 
ing with medals and wearing a jeweled sword, re- 
ceived the visitors with commanding courtesy and 
punctiliousness. Alvarez was the first to speak. 

^AYe have a plan here that has lots of money in 
it,” ahd the smiles again chased each other across 
his face. 

^^You always have a scheme with lots of money 
in it,” was the response of the high official; ^ffiut 
what now?” 

^^Captain LaCromie, young, but able,” — and the 
commander of the Warwick bowed low — -^fis here 
with a prize. A fine ship and a fine cargo. But 


54 For the House of LaCromie. 

he needs an armed boat and one is coming — the 
Versailles y a Frenchman.” 

“What is your prize^ captain?” 

“British, sire.” 

“That has simplified matters. Where did you 
get her?” 

“New York.” 

The story of Captain LaCromie was soon told, 
and after an hour's conference the bargain was 
consummated. The Spanish officials were to have 
the Warwick and her cargo and Captain LaCromie 
to retain the Versailles, to deliver the Warwick at 
Matanzas if his plans v/ere successful. The thieves 
parted company over a bottle of Burgundy and 
Captain LaCromie returned to his ship to mature 
the scheme for the capture of the French boat. 
His first step was to increase his crew, and a dozen 
adventurers were found in Havana, French, Span- 
ish and English, anxious to accept any chance for 
the roving life of the sea. The last part of the 
plan was the assignment of an officer and a small 
crew of Spanish sailors to take charge of the War- 
wick as soon as the Versailles was in possession of 
LaCromie. 

Nearly all of the Warwick's cargo was dis- 
charged at Havana, and with papers made out 
for Philadelphia the Wanvick sailed out of the 
harbor. Out of sight of land her prow was 


The New Pirate Chief. 


55 


turned eastward on a cruise in search of the 
Yersailles. The wind was light, and on the 
fourth day in latitude 23' and longitude 79' a 
sail was seen on the horizon. Four hours later 
the vessels lay within a mile of each other be- 
calmed, with not enough wind to move the French 
flag that each ship was flying. 

A boat was put off from the \Yarwick with 
Lieutenant Makensie, who carried a message to 
the commander of the Versailles requesting him 
and his officers to dine that evening with Cap- 
tain LaCromie. The invitation was graciously 
accepted, and a half hour later the ship’s gig put 
off from the French vessel. But few sailors were 
visible on the deck of the WarwicTc when the 
visitors arrived, and after an interchange of com- 
pliments the young commander led the way to the 
cabin. 

Captain LeClerc, with bronzed face and long 
moustachios, bore the air of a mariner, and he 
found his host surprisingly well versed in mat- 
ters of the sea and of his native land. Captain 
LaCromie, the courtier, was at his best, and the 
noisy merriment attested the bounty of the feast 
and the quality of the wine, but Captain LaCro- 
mie and his first officer drank sparingly. 

‘To the Versailles, the pride of the Eoyal Mer- 


56 For the House of LaCromie. 


chant Marine/^ and Captain LaCromie raised his 
glass. 

A cheer greeted the toast. 

^To onr most gracious host^ a Frenchman of 
the French/^ responded LeClerc, and again the 
glasses clinked^ but Jacques and Makensie looked 
knowingly at each other and drank but lightly. 

^^To the officers of the Versailles/' was Maken- 
sie’s toast^ and the glasses of the guests were filled 
to overflowing. 

^^It is early, gentlemen/^ said Captain LaCromie 
with his polished manners. ^^Our crew share the 
toils and the dangers of the seas with us, shall we 
not have the men of the Versailles for a dance 
upon the deck of the Warwick f 

^^Good!^^ exclaimed LeClerc, slapping the back 
of LaCromie in familiar fellowship. 

^^Monsieur LeClerc will permit me to send the 
message,^^ said Jacques, with a low bow, and he 
left the cabin. 

The gig of Captain LaCromie was soon on the 
way to the Versailles with the invitation, which 
was accepted with alacrity. Twilight had come 
and darkness was settling over the waters as two 
boats from the French ship came along the star- 
board side of the Warwick. Before the visiting 
sailors had reached the deck the Warwick's long 
boat, filled with armed men, pulled off silently 


The New Pirate Chief. 


57 


from the port side and disappeared in the gloom. 

Three ronsing cheers for the Versailles' crew 
greeted the visitors, and three in return came with 
all of the French effusiveness. What did it mat- 
ter that but few of the WarwicVs crew could 
speak the French language? The universal lan- 
guage of the heart found speech in action as the 
feet kept time to the fiddle and the pipe and 
hearts were warmed with the grog and the wine, 
though the Warwiclc's crew drank but sparingly. 

^^And now, begorrah, will yees watch a son of 
the ould sod take all of your fancy Frinch steps 
clean off the deck,’^ and McGonigle stepped into 
the circle. 

A sailor struck up an Irish jig, and the crew of 
the Versailles, merry over the effects of the drink, 
roared in unconfined laughter over the antics of 
the stalwart Irishman, who seemed to have as 
many legs as a centipede, and who twirled his 
shillalah in a veritable pinwheel motion. Then 
more grog was served, and some of the Versailles'" 
crew, unsteady upon their legs, sought reclining 
positions upon the deck. 

In the cabin the banquet of wine was still in 
progress, but Captain LaCromie graciously per- 
mitted his guests to drink the contents of the 
bottles he praised so highly. He stepped outside 


58 For the House of LaCromie. 

his cabin for a minute, and the boatswain was 
quickly at his side. 

^^Bedad, captain/’ said McGonigle, ^^thim gin- 
tlemen from Paree are walking on eight or ten 
legs apiece. We’ve fixed them, sure as St. Pat- 
rick fixed the snakes in ould Ireland.” 

Out a mile to starboard over the waters, rippled 
by a light breeze, three lights twinkled, then dis- 
appeared, then gleamed for a few seconds again. 
Three lights from the Wartvich gleamed in return 
and satisfied that the plan was working as di- 
rected, Captain LaCromie returned to his guests 
in the cabin. The tipsy captain took his depar- 
ture a half hour later with many maudlin assur- 
ances of consideration for his gracious host, and 
he and his crew were assisted down the Warwic¥s 
side after much confusion and labor. As the half- 
drunken sailors endeavored to pull away, three 
lights twinkled on the Versailles' port bow, and 
again the lantern on the Warwick returned the 
telegraphic signal. 

The captain’s gig was lowered, and into it 
quickly sprang Captain LaCromie, Lieutenant 
Makensie, Boatswain McGonigle, and into an- 
other boat all of the crew of the Warwick that 
remained aboard the merchantman. 

^^Casca,” said Captain LaCromie to the Span- 


The New Firate Chief. 


59 

ish officer now in charge of the Warwicic, ^^you 
know yonr orders — Matanzas?’^ 

^‘^Aye, aye^ sir.^^ 

^‘^Good nighty good luck to yon and the gig 
disappeared in the darkness in the direction of 
twinkling lights a half mile away. 

As the yonng pirate captain stepped upon the 
deck of the Versailles, cutlasses were raised in air 
and the sailors^ late the crew of the Warwiclc, 
roared out: 

^^LaCromie V’ 

^Aly congratulations to Mate Wentzel, who con- 
ducted the surprise/^ was the gallant response to 
this greeting by the crew. 

^^She was taken without a blow, captain/^ was 
the reply. ^^Only a half-dozen men were 
aboard of her, and all of them asked to stay with 
us.'’^ 

^^Swear them in,^^ was the command of the 
captain, and the six men advanced, laid their cut- 
lasses upon the sword of the commander of the 
ship and swore to obey the laws of the pirate 
kingdom. 

And while the Versailles bore away, drunken 
officers and drunken crew, who lately manned the 
ship, rowed around looking for a vessel that ap- 
parently had been swallowed up by the deep. 


6o For the House of LaCromie. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE JOLLY ROVERS OE THE SEA. 

The Versailles was a rich prize, and the day 
after her capture was devoted to a distribution of 
the booty. Captain LaCromie found his new ship, 
which he decided to call the Leopard, exactly to 
his liking. She had a tapering bow, pointing well 
upward as she sailed, riding the seas buoyantly, 
was rakish in build, and her spars lacked the 
cumbrous weight of many of the merchantmen of 
the period. She had been built for a privateer- 
merchant ship, to defend herself against attack, 
as well as to make prizes of defenceless ships, and 
for that purpose eight guns were mounted upon 
her decks for broadside batteries and a swivel 
forward. She was well supplied with ammuni- 
tion and small arms, being in fact a French light 
cruiser. 

Captain LaCromie decided to sail for the Dela- 
ware Bay and New York, touching at the Ba- 
hamas and points along the American coast. So 


The Jolly Rovers of the Sea. 6i 

heading northward the pirate ship on the first 
day under the black fiag was the scene of the 
freebooters^ ceremony of dividing the plunder. 
Respecting no man’s rights, thugs, if the occasion 
demanded it, yet the division was conducted with 
an air of rectitude that would have been imposing 
in any just business transaction. 

An inventory was made of the money, the 
jewels, the silks and other articles in the cargo, 
the stock being appraised with an exactitude that 
often set at variance all knowledge of real values. 
This work was done by a commission which La- 
Cromie diplomatically permitted the crew to se- 
lect. The report was handed to the commander, 
who, clad in a new uniform of a French officer 
that formed part of the captured wardrobe, sum- 
moned the crew to the assize. 

^^The pirate’s oath,” he said, ffis a pledge for 
an honest division, or death at the yardarm.” 

Then one by one the crew advanced, and each 
placing his cutlass upon the outstretched sword 
of the captain, swore that he had not secreted any 
of the common stock, and would take no more 
than his alloted share. In other words, every 
man took oath that he was an honest thief. 

The division of the booty took place amid great 
jollity and ribald jests. Captain LaCromie, get- 
ting the share of the commandant, found himself 


62 For the House of LaCromie. 


lifted from a farmer’s boy to a position of afflu- 
ence. Though revengeful in nature^ he was not 
bloodthirsty, but his appetite for plunder was 
whetted by his capture, and all thoughts of a re- 
turn to an honest livelihood were put behind him. 
There was no sail in sight, and the sailors were 
permitted to spend the hours in roystering per- 
formance, in which Boatswain McGonigle led. A 
woman’s gown had fallen to the lot of that Dublin 
rogue, and he laid aside all of the dignity of his 
official position by appearing on deck in female at- 
tire. Other members of the crew took the cue 
and soon the Leopard's deck was the scene of an 
impromptu mardi gras, in which rude song and 
vulgar dialogue had a prominent part. LaCromie 
and Makensie sat on the poop deck enjoying the 
antics of the sailors, and as the freebooters’ revelry 
continued the pirate captain said to his com- 
panion : 

^^This ship recalls my boyhood days, Makensie.” 

^^How so, sir?” 

The young commander, a boy in years, a man 
in diplomacy and executive power, looked out at 
the waves to windward for a minute, apparently 
lost in thought, then replied: 

‘T was born at Cherbourg, France. My father 
and mother were of noble birth and high position. 
I loved the sea, and at ten years could sail a boat. 


The Jolly Rovers of the Sea. 63 

My father was an army officer in King Lonis 
XVI/s service^ and I was destined for the navy, 
and was sent to a naval school at fourteen. My 
father was falsely accused of treasonable utter- 
ances, and tried at Paris. I stood by his side as 
the perjured witnesses told their stories, and 
while he denied the falsehoods, his denials went 
for naught. He was adjudged guilty by the court 
of inquiry and sentenced to the Bastile. But this 
sentence was changed to a penalty worse than 
imprisonment or death. His regiment was 
paraded and Colonel Pierre LaCromie, my father, 
had the decorations he had bravely won in battle, 
torn from his breast, his sword was broken before 
his eyes, and the commander of his division said 
with great irony, ^You may go, Pierre LaCromie.^ 
^^All our estates were confiscated, and that ras- 
cality was really at the bottom of all the false 
accusations. Banished from a land that thus 
repaid my father’s gallant services, we sailed from 
Cherbourg for America. 1 was then seventeen, 
my brother Jean, a tender youth, is five years 
younger. We found a home in the southern part 
of Yew Jersey not far from a village they call 
Port Korris on Morris Eiver, which flows into 
Morris Biver Cove on the Delaware Bay. The 
day we sailed away from France I swore to give 
my life to vengeance, and while I worked on the 


64 For the House of LaCromie. 


farm I plotted and dreamed of retaliation. One 
day my brother and I left for Kew York with a 
load of fruit and vegetables in a shallop we bought 
on Morris Eiver, and which was called the Jersey 
Blue. We were overtaken, as you know, by the 
Raven above Cape May. My only concern was 
for my brother. I trust he reached home. As for 
me, I saw in my capture a chance at last to fulfill 
my vow.^^ 

Again Captain LaCromie gazed out over the sea 
and was silent. Then he said: 

^^Makensie, the name of the chief perjurer 
against my father was one Captain LeClerc, and 
when I saw the moustachios and lace coming up 
over the Warwick's side oft Cuba, I wanted to run 
the villain through for the very crime of having 
that name or belonging to the family. The 
French frigates will have cause to hunt for us, but 
this head will never get under a guillotine. It 
will take the life of more than one French officer 
to end mine.^^ 

And rising abruptly, the commander of the 
Leopard walked into his cabin. 

The Leopard put in at the Great Bahama for a 
supply of water, then stood northward along the 
Florida coast. Off St. Helena Sound, South 
Carolina, the pirate ship overhauled the Dutch 
brig Leyden, from Amsterdam. A shot from the 


The Jolly Rovers of the Sea. 65 

Leopard brought the brig to and LaCromie led 
the boarding party. With the courtesy of the 
courtier the leader of the pirates saluted the 
nervous captain of the Dutch boat. 

^^You have no need to fear for your lives/^ said 
LaCromie, with Parisian gayety, ^^but, captain, 
Til trouble you for a glance at your manifest.’^ 

Bales of cotton goods, sugar, saltpetre, farming 
tools and utensils formed the cargo. 

^^I^m done with farming for the present,” said 
LaCromie lightly, as his eye ran down the list. 
^^Had a couple of years at it, and graduated with 
honors while away from school, so we don’t want 
the tools. We’ll take a few bags of saltpetre, and 
as we don’t dress in cotton on my ship, you may 
keep the bales. But just let me take a look into 
the ship’s chest.” 

The golden guilders were soon removed to the 
Leopard'^ boat, the pirate commander bade the 
captain of the Leyden adieu with wishes for a 
safe voyage, and the Leopard again headed north- 
ward. 

And once more the appraisers drew up their 
accounts, and the division of the spoil was made 
with the formal ceremony of punctilious thieves 
who show careful regard for pirate laws. 


66 For the House of LaCromie. 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE FATE OF CAPTAIN HAMMOND. 

After luring the frigate Queen Bess into a 
chase that no serious obstacle should be presented 
to the capture of the Warwich, Captain Hammond 
flattered himself that he would soon outsail the 
British war vessel, overtake the captured mer- 
chantman out on the ocean, then secure the profits 
of the sale of the ship and her cargo through his 
confederate merchant, Schneider, at Cherbourg 
or Havre. He knew it would be a hazardous en- 
terprise to follow his prize into the English Chan- 
nel, which he knew was patrolled by war ships, 
but he was confident in his ability to outsail his 
enemies. 

That was Captain Hammond’s plan, but it was 
destined to be very materially changed. He was 
sure that the Raven's unexpected broadside had 
done much damage to the Queen Bess, but he was 
av^are by her ready pursuit that she was not 
crippled. The casual firing from the Raven, de- 
signed to decoy the frigate into further chase, and 


The Fate of Captain Hammond. 67 

get her away from her charge, also furnished a 
target foi the gunners of the British war vessel, 
whose marksmanship was far better than they 
knew. One shot whizzed into the rigging, struck 
the mizzen topmast at the royal, splintered it 
badly, and before the topsail could be lowered the 
strain of the sail brought the spar crashing to the 
deck. The falling spar struck the spanker gaff, 
the sudden blow snapping the halyard like twine, 
and the spanker rattled to the deck. 

The Raven quit firing, her prow was turned 
southward to avoid being overhauled by the 
Queen Bess, and Captain Hammond devoted all 
of his energies to escaping from his enemy, in the 
meantime repairing the damage of the Briton’s 
shot as far as possible. At dawn the weather had 
thickened and objects were not discernible many 
ship’s lengths ahead. An hour later a leak was 
reported, and the pumps were worked, but con- 
vinced that it would not be safe to continue his 
voyage without repairs. Captain Hammond de- 
cided to seek refuge in one of the Hew Jersey 
inlets. Again the Raven was headed west. 

It was necessary to keep the pumps manned con- 
tinuously, but it was evident that the Raven could 
make port if the strain on her masts did not open 
the seam further. Though he could not take his 
bearings. Captain Hammond surmised that he 


68 For the House of LaCromle. 


was near Barnegat Bay, but just as the low moan 
of the breakers reached the ears of the lookout, 
there came in quick succession from the crow’s 
nest: 

^^Land ahead ! Sail on the port bow !” 

The stranger was to leeward, and was flying the 
British flag. Captain Hammond could but dimly 
make out the Briton, but was convinced that she 
was a merchantman. Sailing as they were he 
knew that their courses would soon bring them 
side by side, and he cleared his deck for ajption. 
The mists thickened and obscured the British ship 
for a few moments, but fearing he would ground 
if he continued towards shore, not being able to 
make out the mouth of the bay, he went off to 
starboard, and ran a course parallel with the 
shore. As the Raven straightened out, the Briton 
came out of the mists, close to the pirate bark, 
and Captain Hammond found himself alongside 
of the man-of-war Plantaganet, sent to scour the 
coast for the pirates. 

One-fourth of his crew aboard his latest prize, 
and the best fighters he had, among them his ex- 
ecutive officer, and with his boat in an unsea- 
worthy condition. Captain Hammond faced great 
odds. He knew his boat was no match for the 
grim man-of-war, while his chances of escape were 
small, but the mists favored flight, so he turned 


The Fate of Captain Hammond. 69 

the Raven's prow and headed out to sea. All 
canvas was crowded on^ the pnmps were double 
manned to keep the .pirate bark from making 
more water, but as. the pirate bark sheered oif a 
flash of fire came from out of the mist, followed 
by the deep boom of a gun, but the Raven made 
no reply. Topsails and staysails were quickly 
run up on the Plantaganet, and she came swoop- 
ing down upon the fleeing sea robber like an 
avenging Nemesis. Seeing it was impossible to 
outsail his foe, Hammond again headed for shore 
determined to make the inlet, beach his boat and 
escape to land, but the Plantaganet quickly fol- 
lowed the Raven's manoeuvres, and the warriors 
were soon sailing side by side within easy range. 
Save for the single gun from the Briton the race 
had been in silence, but as the war ship swung 
about, her guns roared a broadside at the fugitive, 
and at the same instant the carronades on the 
Raven fired with telling effect. 

Determined to prevent his enemy from reaching 
the inlet, the British ship pointed in for closer 
range, and her guns were worked mercilessly upon 
the pirate bark. Hammond cheered on his men, 
but his gun deck was soon strewn with splinters 
torn from the bulwarks by the terrific fire of his 
foe, his boat was riddled with shot, while the dead 
and the dying lay in their blood at the gun 


70 For the House of LaCromle. 

trunnions. Side by side the boats sailed^ while 
above the roar of the combat came the curses of 
the pirate crew and the cheers of the jack tars on 
the Briton’s decks. Twice were the men shot 
down at the Raven's pumps, then a shell tore 
away the pump levers, the man at the wheel was 
blown into the sea by a cannon shot, the deck ran 
with blood, and the crash of timbers was continu- 
ous. One gun was still being w^orked aboard the 
pirate boat by a crew with powder-blackened faces, 
and they worked amidst an inferno. The orgies 
of Death had taken the place of the orgies of the 
sea wolves — the awful forces of judgment had been 
let loose upon the cutthroats of the ocean. 

Amid this tornado of shot and shell Captain 
Hammond moved unharmed, as though he was 
leading a charmed life. Three men had been shot 
down at the wheel, and when the third man fell, 
and all but one of his broadside guns were si- 
lenced, he took the helm and resolved upon a last 
desperate expedient — he would ram the enemy 
and they would go down together. Scarcely 
enough men remained to work the doomed bark, 
but the helm was shoved hard to port, and the 
water-logged boat swung slowly around, but as 
she stood bow on her deck was raked by a hail of 
grape shot from the forward guns of the Plan- 
taganet. 


The Fate of Captain Hammond. 71 

Captain Hammond fell mortally wounded, but 
he struggled to his feet, grasped the wheel, and 
.stood long enough to see smoke curling from the 
forecastle of the Raven. Then he staggered and 
fell close to the cabin door. 

A white flag was waved by one of the few sur- 
vivors of the pirate bark and the fire of the Briton 
ceased, while cheers came from the victors. In 
the forecastle the fire raged, a column of black 
smoke pouring out the companionway showing the 
progress of the flames; on the deck was a scene of 
carnage, while in the hold was a foe that was 
vieing with the flames in sealing the fate of the 
Raven — she was rapidly filling. 

The Plantaganet stood off, then lowered boats 
to rescue the survivors, but when the Briton^s cut- 
ters had rowed half the distance they saw the half 
dozen or more wretches clustered on the after 
deck nearly hidden by the smoke which was swept 
back from the forecastle. Then came a hissing, 
as though great serpents had taken possession of 
the bark — the water had reached the flames. 
While the Plantaganefs crew watched the fearful 
spectacle, the Raven began rocking, her torn sails 
flapping like gaunt and wounded wings in the 
mists, then the pirate boat plunged forward and 
sank, carrying the living and the dead upon her 
decks to their grave in the deep. 


72 For the House of LaCromle. 

Far out on the Atlantic, in a dory, crazed by 
thirst, a frenzied man with bloodshot eyes, made a 
raving maniac in a day, stood in his frail craft, 
uttered a piercing cry that only reasoned de- 
throned can voice and jumped into the sea. 

In a lonely cabin in the pine forest of southern 
New Jersey there came again to Bill Sanders the 
memory of a fair girl, sweet of face and gentle of 
manner, and the vision of two lonely graves by 
Morris Eiver, in which slept the victim of a re- 
creant lover and a broken-hearted mother. 

^^Yengeance is mine; I will repay,^^ is written 
in the Almighty’s tribunal. 


A Message from the Dead. 73 


CHAPTEK X. 

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD. 

Captain LaCromie had seen the folly of the 
tyrannical government of Captain Hammond, and 
was satisfied that mutiny could only he averted 
aboard a pirate ship by making his crew feel that 
they shared a common lot — they must hang to- 
gether or they would hang separately — yet he 
maintained discipline, and did not permit a fa- 
miliarity that might breed contempt. He had 
made no mistake in selecting Makensie for his 
chief confederate in the conspiracy, and the ex- 
ecutive officer in turn regarded the Leopard's com- 
mander as a born diplomat, the possessor of fine 
qualities, with all of the dash and valor of his 
chivalric ancestors. 

Jacques decided to sail into the Delaware Eiver 
and convert that portion of his booty that was still 
in merchandise into cash, then to leave on a long 
cruise. With all sail set he entered Delaware 
Bay. Off to the north glistened the sands of 
Cape May, above which the adventure that turned 


74 For the House of LaCromie. 

the course of his life had occurred. He had 
sworn revenge for the indignities shown to his 
father and his household, but he had not ex- 
pected that the opportunity for the fulfillment of 
his chosen mission would come so soon. The swift 
mutations of the months had placed him in com- 
mand of a vessel wrested by stratagem from his 
sworn foes, and with this instrument he would 
work out his plans of vengeance. Three hours 
later the Leopard dropped anchor a few miles be- 
low Morris Eiver Cove, the British flag diverting 
any suspicion that might be entertained by pass- 
ing fishermen of the character of the visitor. 

Two days later the Leopard anchored off Marcus 
Hook, twenty-five miles below Philadelphia, and 
the crew went ashore for the first time since the 
vessel’s capture. It was an historic rendezvous 
for pirates, made famous by the visits of the 
notorious Blackboard, the most picturesque vil- 
lain wdio ever sailed the seas, and the little street 
back from the river a short distance in William 
Penn’s oldest borough, still bears testimony by 
its name to the wild character of the orgies, for 
it is called Discord Lane, a bit of nomenclature 
that has adhered to it through nearly three cen- 
turies, despite the efforts in local enactments to 
change its title. 

Captain LaCromie rigged a sail on his long 


75 


A Message from the Dead. 

boat and visited Philadelphia, and on Delaware 
Avenue, as the Quaker City now styles its bustling 
and crowded river front business thoroughfare, 
found the trusty member of the Hans Schneider 
Guild. He was John Fogg, heavy, phlegmatic 
and slow of speech, but keen of intellect withal. 

^‘^Youdl be under suspicion here among these 
particular Quakers, captain,^^ said Fogg, ^^unless 
you take a cargo away. They are not interested 
in empty bottoms in this town. YouVe got your 
Havana papers fixed ?’^ And Fogg winked in a 
way that was not phlegmatic. 

not a stranger to these people,^’ replied 
the pirate chief. ^TVe been in business here be- 
fore. But I want a cargo of stores for my ship. 
I^m off for Europe on business.^^ 

^^So,^^ replied the merchant. ^^Bring your ship 
up, but keep your cutthroats busy aboard ship 
while you are here, and get away as soon as yon 
can.^^ 

As he spoke Fogg handed to his visitor a copy 
of a notice that had been posted at the Custom 
House. It read : 

Hotice — The pirate bark Raven, Captain Ham- 
mond, a deserter from the British navy, was sunk 
above Cape May by the British frigate Plantaga- 
net. All the pirate crew killed or drowned. 


76 For the House of LaCromle. 


^^Planiaganet in port?’^ asked Jacques. 

left America and gone back to report.’^ 

If any suspicion was entertained of the char- 
acter of the armed merchantman that put into the 
dock at the foot of Eace Street at Philadelphia, 
the next day, the affability of her commander dis- 
pelled any lingering doubt. The wily, though 
phlegmatic, Fogg took the French commander to 
a social function in the evening, and the urbane, 
polished and diplomatic pirate charmed by his 
ready wit, his perfect command of English, which 
he spoke with a fluency that surprised the com- 
pany. His fund of anecdotes, his stories of the 
gay French capital, ‘and well-put compliments to 
his partners in the dance won the hearts of hostess 
and guests. 

Ten days were spent in the Quaker City, and 
the young nobleman’s son became a social lion. 
He spent money freely, was feted and entertained, 
and if his calling upon the seas was suspected, the 
rumors did not reach the ears of the watchful 
Fogg, nor did the cautious members of the Leo- 
pard's crew learn of any suspicions as they daily 
travelled through the marts of trade. 

The night before his departure from port Cap- 
tain LaCromie entertained aboard ship, and the 
Leopard's decks presented a gay and kaleidoscopic 
scene as the merry throng moved in the figures of 


A Message from the Dead. 77 

the dance or promenaded about the brightly il- 
luminated boat. Yet as the guests drank the 
health of their host in sparkling wine^ pistols were 
loaded and cutlasses were ready for instant use 
should danger or invasion come from any source 
in the festivities of that hour. 

As he stood at his ship’s side, uniformed in 
naval finery and girdled with a glittering belt and 
jewelled sword to bid his guests farewell, the 
bearded commander thought of a young Jacques 
LaCromie that had often come to that same wharf 
in a shallop with produce from his father’s farm 
down the bay ; but even upon the river front marts 
of the Quaker City no one seemed to notice the 
similarity of names. 

It was a bold game this pirate chief played, 
bub the quality styled diplomacy often wins where 
the valor of the warrior fails; but both elements 
were linked here, and the world applauds success, 
though it is not usually any too particular in the 
selection of the kind of success upon which it 
showers its plaudits. 

As the commander and the Leopard's first offi- 
cer sat in conference, and the larboard watch kept 
vigil that night. Captain LaCromie naively re- 
marked to his companion : 

^^Eemember, Monsieur Makensie, that sugar is 


78 For the House of LaCromie. 

soinetinios a better weapon than gunpowder^ and 
does not cost as 

The Leopard weighed anchor at sunrise and 
slowly worked her way down the tortuous Horse- 
shoe Channel of the Delaware. A few hours later 
as the ship moved out upon the broader waters of 
the head of the bay below the island that now 
holds the frowning parapets of Fort Delaware, 
there was the glitter of silver and gold, and the 
ring of metal — the pirate crew were in equity 
court in the division of plunder. 

When the fishermen of Morris Eiver Cove looked 
from the windows of their humble homes on the 
following morning, a beautiful ship with sails 
furled, a long black and red pennant streaming 
from her peak, and cannon peering from port 
holes, lay at anchor in the harbor. They recog- 
nized the vessel that two weeks before had moored 
at sundown below the cove; but the proud ensign 
of the Briton was not flying from her spanker gaff 
— a black flag, red-fringed, with a strange armor- 
ial crest, an eagle with a serpent in its talons, 
floated there instead. 

Ho boats ventured from the cove, fearful of 
challenge from the sentinel whose guns com- 
manded the water to either shore, but a group of 
excited people soon gathered on the beach and 
watched the dread stranger, whose coming was 


79 


A Message from the Dead. 

unheralded, and whose presence might be the 
visit of a destroying angel. While they watched, 
a boat was lowered and was rowed by a crew of 
intrepid oarsmen swiftly to the northern shore, 
and disappeared in the month of Morris Eiver. 
Then the captain’s gig put off from the ship, and 
the morning sun caught the drops from the oars, 
and turned them into glittering diamonds as the 
crew pulled toward the little settlement of fisher- 
men’s cabins. 

In the first boat that left the ship was Boat- 
swain McGonigle, wdio carried a box that had been 
entrusted to his care by the Leopard's commander. 
Picking their way along the edge of the marshes 
of a river a rude landing was found by the boat’s 
crew, and back a quarter of a mile, almost hidden 
by the trees, was a trucker’s home. 

^^Begorrah, that’s the offing !” exclaimed the 
boatswain, and jumping ashore walked towards 
the house accompanied by two sailors. 

They followed a path furrowed by wagon wheels 
through a low sandy tract, and before reaching the 
clump of pines in which the log cabin stood, the 
fierce barking of a dog announced their coming. 
A woman above the medium stature, with streaks 
of gray in her hair, opened the door as the men 
approached. Her face was still 3^outhful in ap- 
pearance, but there was an ease and dignity in 


8o For the House of LaCromle. 


her carriage that did not escape the observant eye 
of the Irishman. 

^^Shiver me timbers, madam/^ blurted out the 
boatswain, ^Vhat in the name of all the saints at 
onst is the loikes of yees livin’ in this wilderness 
fur ?” 

The woman smiled at the honest compliment 
conveyed in the blunt words, and replied with a 
French accent that was peculiarly musical : 

^^We’re living here because we don’t see any- 
thing better just now.” 

^^But yees don’t need to stay long,” again 
blurted out the Irishman, his e3^es fascinated by 
the face and form before him. ^^The loikes of 
yees belong in foine houses.” 

And McGonigle doffed his hat and essayed a 
low bow. 

The woman smiled again, and the boatswain 
looked the undisguised admiration he felt. There 
was neither evidence of fear nor trepidation in her 
face, but rather of amusement. 

^^But whom do I have the pleasure of address- 
ing?” she asked courteously. 

^^Bedad, only a sailor, mam, but I hope a good 
one even if Dinnis McGonigle says so himself. 
And may I be after axin’ the same question of 
yerself ?” 

H am Madame Louise LaCromie.” 


A Message from the Dead. 8i 

^^And ferninst the right port I am, mam. An^ 
here’s the box which the captain — and the foinest 
man that iver walked the quarter deck. He sed 
I wuz to give yees this box wid his compleements. 
He’ll come himself whin he’s through wid thim 
French spalpeens, bad sess to thim.” 

And before she could recover from her astonish- 
ment, McGonigle and his companions were has- 
tening back to the landing. 

^‘^Begorrah, Longdon,” said the boatswain, as 
they hurried back to the boat, ^‘^yees know now 
where the captain got all his foine looks. It’s 
meself that’s glad of a chance to crack the pate 
of thim frog eaters fur sending a queen out of 
the country into this bog of a wilderness.” 

Two days later the shallop Louise returned from 
Philadelphia, moored to the landing in Morris 
Eiver, and Pierre LaCromie and his son Jean hur- 
ried to the cabin home. They were met half way 
by the queenly wife and mother. 

^^The city is full of stories of a young French 
officer named Jacques LaCromie,” said the father, 
^^and I am heavy at heart. The same name as my 
handsome boy who went down on the Raven/^ 

Madame LaCromie said nothing, but with pale 
face and trembling hands led the way to the 
house, and, removing a cover, pointed to a curi- 
ously decorated box, which bore upon the lid the 


82 For the House of LaCromie. 


family crest — the eagle with a serpent in its 
talons. With hands that shook with excitement 
Pierre LaCromie turned the key and opened the 
lid. The box was filled with glittering gold 
pieces. Upon the money lay a note. It read: 

My Father and Mother: I will return 
and restore you to fortune and rightful position 
when I have avenged the wrongs that your coun- 
try has inflicted upon you. Jacques.^^ 

^^My brave boy lives exclaimed the mother, 
and she fell in a swoon. 


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“Jacques La Crouiic!” she exclaimed. 


Bride of the Leopard’s Captain. 83 


CHAPTEE XL 

THE BRIDE OF THE LEOPARDIS CAPTAHST. 

Before Boatswain McGonigle reached the 
farmhouse of the LaCromies, the captain’s gig 
grated upon the pebbles on the beach on the 
southern shore of the cove, and LaCromie was the 
first man to step ashore. He saluted a little knot 
of villagers with great courtesy, assured them 
that the Leopard's visit meant no harm to the 
settlement, then passed on. Xo one recognized 
the bearded young officer. Approaching a young 
woman and her male companion, who w^ere stand- 
ing a short distance from the group. Captain La- 
Cromie bowed low, and said: 

^^I’ve come to keep my appointment with la 
belle Americaine, mademoiselle.” 

The girl started at the voice, and her face 
turned pale, then scarlet. 

Jacques LaCromie !” she exclaimed. 

^The same, mademoiselle, and the suitor for 
your hand.” 

‘mat?” 


84 For the House of LaCromle. 

The fists of the girl’s companion clenched, and 
stepping in front of the pirate commander, he 
said: 

^^LaCromie, the sooner you end this business the 
better.” 

^^And so I think, Loveland, and without your 
aid or advice,” and he touched the hilt of his 
sword significantly. 

The taunt fired the heart' of the pirate’s rival, 
and unarmed as he was, he would have struck his 
foe had not the girl restrained him by stepping 
between the men. 

^‘^Bessie,” said Jacques, have come to fulfill 
my promise and make you a nobleman’s bride, to 
give you wealth, and bring you back a princess. 
You were angry with me when we parted, for this 
man lied to 3^ou.” 

Loveland’s face flushed, and he sprang forward, 
but again the girl interposed. 

fear no violence of v^^hich he is capable,” was 
the cool retort of the pirate chief. will not 
be responsible for the conduct of the men in my 
gig if he should insist upon a fight.” 

^^Do you intend to go with this man on that 
ship, Bess?” demanded Loveland. 

The girl stood irresolute between the men. It 
was the old story and the old temptation. The 
uniform, the gilt lace and the speech of a courtier 


Bride of the Leopard’s Captain. 85 

indicated position and power upon one side; on 
the other was poverty and the dull routine of a 
fisherman’s cabin. It was an honorable life, 
though humble, and its devotees unknown, and 
the girl would have been content to live in the 
village had no other life been opened to her, but 
the vista suddenly presented dazzled her eyes. 

It was true that Ben Loveland had aspirations 
above the fisherman’s life, but there seemed to be 
no prospect of any realization of his hopes. It 
was true that this patrician officer that asked her 
hand was a pirate, but love forgives and over- 
looks all sins except those committed against love 
itself. Before her lay wealth — she Had only to 
reach out and take it — and what woman does not 
covet wealth and its attendant power? To stay 
was to link hands with poverty, though it was 
poverty with honor. Oh, opportunity, what a 
master of human destinies thou art ! To this 
girl, knowing nothing of the allurements of an- 
other life, came the same tempter who whispered 
folly into the heart of Mother Eve, who had lis- 
tened to the serpent, dazzled by the promises of 
the foe. 

With heaving breast and tear-dimmed eyes, in 
which hope and fear were alternately pictured, 
Bessie held out her hand to the pirate commander, 
who stooped and kissed it. 


86 For the House of LaCromie. 


Loveland silently watched the girl as the vary- 
ing emotions played across her face, then as she 
made her choice, he said hoarsely: 

‘‘LaCromie, if Bessie Turner loves you more 
than she does me, then you are welcome to your 
conquest. But harkee ! When we meet again it 
will be under different conditions, and you and 
your pirate crew will be wiped off the seas.’^ 

“That’s a fair threat, monsieur,” was the gay 
response. “If we so meet, then be it so.” 

They walked towards the captain’s gig, and 
again Bessie stood irresolute. She looked across 
the beach at the clump of bushes where her father’s 
cabin stood, and duty and inclination struggled 
for the mastery. 

“Your father will be provided for,” said her 
lover, and he held up a bag brought from the 
ship in the small boat. “I’ll trust this to the 
keeping of my friend Banks,” and he handed the 
money to a veteran fisherman as he spoke. 

The crew of the gig saluted as the captain as- 
sisted his bride into the boat, then a hamper of 
wine and some trinkets as wedding souvenirs were 
left with the villagers. Captain LaCromie nodded 
to the coxswain, and his boat put off. The oars 
again dipped in unison, the sunbeams again trans- 
formed the drops of water into diamonds, and the 
wedding tour of a pirate’s bride had begun. The 


Bride of the Leopard’s Captain. 87 

watching villagers upon the beach saw her climb 
the ship’s side^ and the fisherman’s settlement of 
Morris .Kiver Cove had lost its belle forever. As 
if by magic a long string of gaily colored flags 
fluttered from peak to deck, a flash of flame and 
curling smoke came from the Leopard's side, and 
the rumble of a salute boomed over the waters. 

The young commander and his bride were re- 
ceived in naval state by the crew. Drawn up in 
platoons upon the gun deck, dressed in natty uni- 
forms were the sailors, and the timid glance of 
the girl changed to admiration as her eyes fell 
upon the ranks, and this was not lost upon the 
men. Taking her by the hand, the captain pre- 
sented her to the ship’s company, and cutlasses 
flashed in the air and cheers rang out over the 
water for the commander of the Leopard and his 
pretty partner. 

Then came the song of the windlass, the creak- 
ing of the hawser, the sharp commands of the 
executive officer, the scamper of nimble forms up 
the shrouds into the rigging, and out on the big 
arms, great white wings spread their pinions, and 
the Leopard sailed out of the cove and stood down 
the bay. 

In the richly furnished cabin LaCromie held 
his bride in his arms, and looking into the up- 
turned face, said: 


88 For the House of LaCromle. 

‘^Bessie, I knew you would come with me.” 

Jacques/^ she replied, did not mean to be 
angry with you that day on the beach.” 

The crew were piped to quarters at sundown to 
attend the marriage ceremony. The Leopard 
still carried part of her stock of goods captured 
in the West Indies, together with certain portions 
of the trousseau that the gay French officer had 
secured in Philadelphia, and the bride decked her- 
self for the nuptials. Makensie was deputized to 
officiate, and a ceremony was arranged, and out 
upon the ocean, with the waves playing the wed- 
ding chimes as they lashed the ship’s side, the mar- 
riage vows were taken. Then followed the merry- 
making in which the crew drank to the health of 
Captain and Madame LaCromie in the wine the 
commander set out for the wedding feast. 

But in a lonely hut on the Jersey coast a fisher- 
man just in from the Delaware banks, sat 
with heavy heart and heeded not the glittering 
gold with which a sea wolf thought to heal the 
wounds that the theft of the ewe lamb had made. 


Vow of the Brotherhood. 


89 


CHAPTER XIL 

THE VOW OF A KNIGHT OF THE BROTHERHOOD. 

Eastward the Leopard sped on, and while the 
first portion of che voyage across the Atlantic 
Ocean was nneventful from a pirate’s standpoint, 
the days were not passed in idleness. Captain 
LaCromie’s naval training was made to serve well 
the ends of the pirate chief, for there was daily 
drill with sword and cntlass, rapid fire practice 
with the batteries, and perfection in handling the 
sail. 

think we are ready for business, Makensie,” 
was the comment of Jacques, at the conclusion of 
one of the day’s drills. ^AVe can fight or run 
away.” 

The presence of the pretty young bride of the 
captain had an appreciable effect upon the nimble 
movements of the crew, for she watched the drills 
with evident interest, and with the open-hearted 
frankness of her sex was quick to express her ap- 
preciation, much to the delight of the sailors. 
But the spirit of knight errantry was not born in 


90 For the House of LaCromie. 

the clays of the barons^ for it has burned perennial 
in the breast of men in every age and every clime. 
Men will dare more for women’s plaudits than for 
any other earthly honors. 

But the observant members of the crew noticed 
that the roses were fading from the cheeks of the 
young bride; that she often sat upon the after 
deck looking out upon the vessel’s wake, and tears 
would fill her eyes — tears that would still linger 
through the smiles that would light up her face 
when the captain came to her side, though her 
laugh w^ould ring out merrily over LaCromie’s 
good-natured badinage. 

‘^The girl is homesick, bedad,” said McGonigle 
to his mates, ^^an’ it may be a long or a short wed- 
ding tower she’ll have on this craft. Begorrah, 
it’s sick I am meself to see old Dublin.” 

^‘^They’ll see you at the end of a rope, bo’sin,” 
retorted a sailor, ^^the next look your friends will 
get at you in Ireland.” 

^^An’ it would not be the first toime me beloved 
country has kept me in a state of suspinse,” re- 
plied the quick-witted Celt. 

Four weeks without seeing a sail and still the 
Leopard's prow was eastward. Then came heavy 
weather, and for forty-eight hours the ship 
breasted the heavy seas in the nor’easter that 
howled through the rigging, and lashed the ocean 


Vow of the Brotherhood. 91 

f 

into a fury. At sunrise on the third day, while 
the sea was still running high, though the storm 
had subsided, a signal of distress was made out 
from the crow’s nest, and oft the starboard how a 
vessel was seen laboring heavily in the waves. 
Part of one mast only remained, and from that 
fluttered the appeal for help. 

Then came one of those contradictions found 
in the human breast, but which is ever the hope of 
fallen humanity. Upon fair seas the stranger 
would have been accounted a lawful prize under 
the unwritten code of the buccaneer, and blood 
would have been spilled to assert and maintain 
this doctrine ; but a common peril forms a brother- 
hood that makes even sea wolves banish thoughts 
of prey. 

The Leopard sailed as close as possible, and 
found a sinking ship, with two masts gone by the 
board, and men almost exhausted working at the 
pumps. A boat was lowered from the pirate ship, 
and LaCromie took command, and had plenty of 
volunteers. It required a skillful mariner in such 
a sea, but trained men handled the oars, with 
Boatswain McGonigle at the big tiller. Two trips 
were made and the rescue of every man was 
effected. 

It was a French ship, the Mayenne, Captain 
Poiters. 


92 For the House of LaCromle. 

As Captain LaCromie stepped upon the deck 
of the Leopardj the black flag with the red fringe 
and the eagle crest was run up. 

^^Mon Dieu V’ gasped the Mayenne's commander, 
^^prisoners upon a pirate ship V’ 

^^As safe, sire/^ responded Captain LaCromie, 
addressing him in his native tongue, ^^as though 
this minute in France. You are not my prisoners ; 
you are my guests.^^ 

And as he uttered the speech the young wife of 
the Leopard's commander rushed into her hus- 
band’s arms with many caresses, and a cheer went 
up from the crew. 

Captain Poiters bowed his thanks, then turned 
to look for his vessel and saw a huge wave break 
over her bow, and the ship disappeared beneath 
the waves. 

From Captain Poiters, LaCromie learned that 
the news of the capture of the Versailles off Cuba 
had reached France, and that a reward had already 
been placed upon the head of the pirate chief. 
The Warwick's crew had been picked up and 
landed at Boulogne, from which port the Mayenne 
had sailed for Yew York. 

H disliked to put Wollersheim overboard,” said 
LaCromie, ^Tut I’m glad to know that he landed 
safely.” 

A week later, just before sundown a stately ship 


Vow of the Brotherhood. 93 

flying the French flag sailed nnder the lee of the 
Isle de FToirmontier in the Bay of Biscay, and a 
boafs crew awaited the orders of her commander. 

^^Captain Poiters/^ said LaCromie, ^^yonr home 
is at Nantes. Pll land yon at St. Urbain. Five 
of your crew, four Norwegians and a German, will 
remain with me.^^ 

With all of the effusive gratitude of the Gaul, 
the commander of the lost Mayenne poured out his 
thanks to his rescuer, saluted the pirate crew, and 
went over the ship’s side to the waiting boat, 
which disappeared in the direction of the main- 
land. The boat returned at midnight, and the 
Leopard immediately put out to sea. 

Under the rays of a dim light in the cabin 
Captain Jacques LaCromie and his young wife sat 
in earnest conversation. Overhead was heard the 
tramp of feet as the crew were getting the ship 
under way. 

^^Bessie,” said Jacques, pressing her to his 
heart, ^^you have pined since we left Morris 
Eiver Cove. Come now, you are too tender, I 
fear, for a pirate’s bride.” 

She brushed the tear away, and with her arms 
clasped about his neck in a tender embrace, said 
with a sigh, ^^No, Jacques, I am willing to go 
to the ends of the earth with you, but 

^^But what, my dearest?” 


94 Foi* the House of LaCromie. 

Slie v;as silent for a few moments, then said 
with a sob : ^^Bnt we are but lovers, J acques. I 
am not your lawful wife/^ 

^^Did not we have the ceremony upon the quar- 
ter deck?'"’ 

^^Yes, but no priest, no minister was there. 
Shall we not when we touch at some port repair 
to some parish house and there plight us in law- 
ful marriage 

Capable of ferocity towards his foes, LaCromie 
had a nature of equal tenderness towards his 
friends, and he kissed the fair face with great 
affection. Stirred by her grief, he forgot the 
stern calling to which he had sworn to link his 
life, and he devoted his attention to comforting 
the girl. Then he inwardly cursed his own en- 
treaties that had seduced her from her home and 
friends, for he saw that she now felt the shame 
of her position keenly, that it was preying upon 
her spirits and undermining her health. 

Hs not my love true, dear Bessie asked the 
pirate chief, as he gaz?d fondly into her eyes. 

^^Yes, Jacques, but I am still Bessie Turner, 
and thus wedded I am but brave Captain LaCro- 
mie^s leman and not his wife.^^ 

A shadow came across the face of the Leopard's 
commander, and gently releasing her, he paced 
the cabin floor. 


Vow of the Brotherhood. 95 

^^Cnrse my fate he exclaimed^ have taken 
such a vow 

Jacques LaCromie, who a minute ago pro- 
tested his love, so soon weary of me?’^ asked 
Bessie, her head erect and her eyes flashing. ^^If 
so I will cast myself into the sea V’ 

^^jSTo, no, dearest, not that,^^ he protested^ again 
folding her in his arms. ^^You are my life. It 
was of another vow^ that I spoke.’^ 

His frame trembled, and the beautiful girl 
looked into his face in alarm. He unbottoned his 
coat and waistcoat, then opened his shirt bosom. 
Upon his breast there glistened a golden cross, 
upon which was wrought a silver lily. Bessie gave 
a look of eager questioning. 

^^ThaV^ said J acques, ^fls the badge of the 
Brotherhood of Jerusalem. While at school I was 
fool enough to take the vow of knighthood of 
celibacy.^^ 

The color went from the cheeks of the young 
girl, her eyes stared at her lover, but she said noth- 
ing. He tried to comfort this grief that could 
find no speech, but though her body shook con- 
vulsively, she simply buried her face upon his 
shoulder, while he smoothed her tresses tenderly 
with his hand. When after some minutes she 
raised her eyes to his, he gently kissed her good- 
night, and they retired for rest. 


g6 For the House of LaCromie. 

The larboard watch in the long and dark hours 
of the morning were startled by the presence of 
that strange visitant of the deep^, St. Elmo’s light, 
which sparkled for a brief period upon the mizzen 
truck, then disappeared. While the quartermas- 
ter at the wheel gazed upward for a reappearance 
of the ])hcnomenon, he was startled by a figure in 
white close by his side. Superstitious to the last 
degree, as men who follow a pirate’s calling are, 
the helmsman’s knees quaked and smote each 
other as he gazed at the apparition. Through the 
gloom of the night he made out the form of a 
woman. 

^Towers and saints of heaven !” he gasped. 

The spectre moved toward the ship’s side, 
mounted the bulwarks, stood for a moment with 
one hand grasping the shrouds, then with a wild 
shriek leaped into the sea. 

^^Heavens and earth!” yelled a sailor. ^^The 
captain’s wife’s overboard 1” 

A succession of orders rang out in the con- 
fusion of the moment, and in the midst of the 
excitement Captain LaCromie rushed on deck. 
The ship was put about and a boat was lowered, 
and above the plaintive wail of the wind the be- 
reft lover called in vain the name of the girl who 
had chosen death rather than dishonor. The 
ocean had provided a bridal robe and a shroud. 


The Bargain Counter. 


97 


CHAPTER XIIL 

THE BARGAIN COUNTER OF THE BUCCANEER. 

The first great sorrow was upon Jacques La- 
Cromie^s life, but while affliction softens and re- 
fines some natures, the crucible of trial hardens 
others. It was so with the pirate chief, who be- 
came more ferocious in his calling. Men are 
quick to find a palliation for their crimes and 
their sins, and he placed all of the blame for his 
deception of his bride against his knighthood 
oath; and this but whetted the thirst for revenge 
he had sworn against his countrymen. Such is 
the facile reasoning that excuses a course of vio- 
lence and folly. 

Cruising off the Ushant Island a fleet of mer- 
chantmen bound south was sighted under convoy 
of the French frigate St. Cloud. Five galleons 
were under escort, the war ship grimly on guard 
in the wake. The Leopard's decks were cleared 
for action, and a series of manoeuvres was begun 
to separate the boats. With the wind on the port 
quarter, and all sails set the pirate ship passed 


98 For the House of LaCromie. 

alt of the St, Cloud, and as she bore down on her 
course the black flag was run up. 

The Frenchman immediately swung around to 
give battle to the buccaneer, and as he did so a 
shot from the Leopard whistled above the St. 
Cloud's deck, and tore through the jib. The 
frigate replied, and as a shot struck the Leopard, 
she immediately got out of range. The war ship 
gave chase, but finding the pursuit futile, re- 
turned to the fleet of galleons. The pirate came 
about at once, went on a diagonal course, and the 
St. Cloud turned to head him off, but the Leopard 
fired a broadside and retreated, and as LaCromie’s 
gunners fired high, the shot wxnt rattling through 
the rigging of the foe, ripping some of the sails, 
the object of the gunnery. 

The rigid drills of the pirate crew gave a per- 
fectly handled vessel, evidenced in the repeated 
and provoking dashes of the Leopard, and the re- 
peated successes in damaging the sails of the 
Frenchman, yet escaping each time without in- 
jury. All day these manoeuvres were kept up, 
the pirate ship hovering upon the trail of the 
enemy like a wolf scenting its prey, yet keeping 
out of fair range of the huntsman by outpacing 
the heavily gunned frigate when pursuit was at- 
tempted. 

When night came the Leopard stood out to 


The Bargain Counter. 99 

sea, and apparently had abandoned the efforts to 
effect a capture of any of the galleons. One by 
one the lights twinkled from the vessel of the 
fleet, and shut out from the vision of the war 
ship and the merchantmen, the pirate ship made 
a circuit and secured a position two miles in ad- 
vance of the enemy^s forward galleon, which was 
sailing a mile to leeward of the St. Cloud. 

Eight bells were sounded on the boats of the 
fleet as Captain LaCromie stood on the deck of 
the Leopard watching the lights astern. The 
wind had decreased in force, but was blowing 
steadily, though the sea was not rough. 

^^Nothing but cutlasses and no noise, if possible 
to work it that way, Makensie,’^ said the pirate 
commander to his executive officer as the boat’s 
crew went over the Leopard's side. ^^Signal two 
lights if you need help, one if you are all right, 
then take a course due east until safe, then north.” 

^^Aye, aye, sir,” was the low response. 

Silently, pulling with muffled oars, the picked 
men of the Leopard disappeared in the darkness, 
pulling toward the forward galleon, whose cap- 
tain lulled to peace and security by the disap- 
pearance of the prowler, and the presence of the 
guns of the man-of-war, slept soundly in his bunk, 
while the crew dreamt not of the danger that 
was near. The boat with its load of sea wolves 


Lof 0. 


loo For the House of LaCromle. 

rose and fell on the swell of the ocean, and as it 
came under the bow of the intended prey, the 
notes of a song, a song of the sea, came from the 
watch. The song was interrupted by a warning 
cry, but a strong hand throttled the sailor before 
he could repeat the call. Dark forms glided 
swiftly over the deck, and the little company of 
sailors who had formed the chorus of singers 
sprang to their feet in alarm, but were quickly 
surrounded by men armed with cutlasses and 
pistols. 

^‘^Make no noise or you are dead men said a 
low voice in very bad French, The faint light 
on the deck revealed gleaming steel, and the logic 
of self-preservation suggested surrender, a course 
the crew immediately took. 

Swiftly and almost without noise the hatches 
were battened down, guards took possession of the 
companionways, and all of the crew below deck 
were prisoners, sleeping prisoners. The com- 
mander, a young Frenchman, with a carefully 
trained moustache and goatee, was awakened from 
a dream of home to find three strange men with 
pistols in their hands leaning over him at his 
bunk, and before he regained full consciousness 
his hands and feet were tied, while a swarthy 
pirate sat at his feet to see that he made no effort 
to get up. 


lOI 


The Bargain Counter. 

A single light twinkled from the galleon’s deck, 
and off to leeward an answering signal came. 
Then all lights were doused upon the deck and 
in the rigging of the merchantman, her helm was 
put hard down, and she stole away in the dark- 
ness. Cunning had again played its hand with 
success. 

The galleon had a new guardian of the sea at 
sunrise. It was the pirate ship. No other sail 
was in sight, and the day was given up to looting 
the prize, wljich was rich with booty, with gold 
coin, jewels and laces. In the transfer of the cargo 
the crew of the captured boat did a large share of 
the work, assured by the pirate chief that no harm 
would befall them if this order was obeyed. 
Under this stimulus they labored lustily, but with 
evident trepidation that betrayed a lack of con- 
fidence in the assurance of Captain LaCromie. 
At sundown the galleon was dismissed, her captain 
and sailors congratulating themselves that their 
lives were not exacted as part of the penalty of 
capture. 

^That young man LaCromie is too polite for 
his trade,” said the galleon’s captain with an oath. 

^^You might ask the St. Cloud if she wants a 
convoy,” gaily retorted LaCromie, who overheard 
the remark. 

^Tegorrah, yees frog eaters had better stay out 


102 For the House of LaCromle. 

of this pond/^ was the farewell remark of the 
Leopard's boatswain as the lines of the galleon 
were cast off, but his words were unintelligible to 
the French crew, whose education in Celtic meta- 
phors had evidently been neglected. 

But silks and laces were to be coined into legal 
tender, and while the despoiled galleon made her 
way back to port, the Leopard headed north for 
the pirate’s trade rendezvous off the Connaught 
coast. Much was to be done to fit the pirate ship 
for a cruise in the English Channel on a further 
hunt for plunder, and while she remained at 
Clare Island a brig from the virtuous house of 
Hans Schneider & Company sailed away from the 
Irish coast with silks and laces for Kotterdam. 
The man with goods to sell at a bargain has in 
all ages found other men with the requisite cash. 
The bargain counter is not a modern invention. 

But princes were patrons of the prosperous 
house of Schneider, government officials were 
its friends, hence no uncomfortable questions were 
asked about the going and coming of captains who 
went down to the sea in ships. 

When the Leopard left Clare Island after her 
overhauling, it was for the purpose of harassing 
the French commerce in the English Channel, 
then to cross the ocean for a cruise along the 
American coast. 


103 


The Bargain Counter. 

^Tivincli gold shall make my father independ- 
ent/^ soliloquized the pirate captain, as he paced 
his deck, and his ship headed south. His suc- 
cesses had turned his head, and like all easy con- 
quests they lured him on to his fate. The glitter 
of gold was the ignis fatuus that danced before 
his eyes, so his vessel plowed the seas chasing the 
phantom. He saw only fresh prizes, and not the 
lurking danger as his ship rounded the southern 
coast of Ireland, and headed in a southeasterly 
course for the waters that wash the northern coast 
of France. 


104 For the House of LaCromle. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

IN WHICH GOVERNMENT TAKES A HAND. 

Through the English Channel overhauling 
small merchantm.en^ sometimes setting fire to the 
vessels after sending their crews ashore^ the Leo- 
nard roamed. Success emboldened the bucca- 
neers^ who figured in a number of narrow escapes 
from men-of-war sent to overtake this pirate^ but 
superior sailing in a ship light and speedy en- 
abled LaCromie to get away with but little 
damage to his boat. Once he was surprised by 
two frigates under the lee of the Guernsey Islands, 
and shots were rapidly exchanged, but skillful 
handling of his ship enabled him to get out of the 
range of the enemy’s guns, then darkness came; 
but instead of standing out to sea he played his 
foxy trick of doubling upon his track, and next 
day sent terror among a fleet of five galleons, which 
he pursued into the Seine Bay, but made no cap- 
tures. 


Government Takes a Hand. 105 

Things were getting uncomfortably warm^ and 
the Leopard headed for her merchandise exchange 
on Clare Island^ where a week^s orgies by the 
pirate crew put the natives in a state of terror. 
McGonigle was sent to the mainland for recruits, 
and a fortnight later with an augmented crew, 
the Leopard left port for another descent upon 
the French coast before going to America. The 
Channel was being patrolled by both French and 
English war ships, hut LaCromie slipped through 
the line, and approaching the coast above Le- 
Havre at night, landed two French sailors as spies. 
They were Tonnillier and Kenaud, two of his 
trustiest men. 

The docks of the French port were busy with 
moving drays, and noisy with the rattle of tackle 
and shouts of stevedores loading and unloading 
the argosies at the wharves. Under the shelter of 
the fortress two frigates were at anchor, while 
small craft flitted about the harbor. The name of 
LaCromie had become formidable, and Tonnillier 
and his companion heard much of the prowess of 
this young buccaneer, whose exploits lost noth- 
ing in being retold in the sailors’ cafes and board- 
ing houses. 

Bundles of silks, laces and cases of jewels were 
being stored upon the vessels at the docks, but the 
boat that won attention from the pirate spies was 


io6 For the House of LaCromie. 


a brigantine that bore the name of Montereau, 
She was heavily built, was of a tonnage that 
gave large cargo capacity, but the critical eyes 
of the pirates saw that she lacked the lines that 
indicate speed, a very distinctive feature of the 
Leopard. Many stevedores were at work upon 
her loading heavy boxes that bore the mark of 
the French mint, while a French naval officer and 
several government officials gave careful super- 
vision of the storage of her cargo. Along the 
docks it was said the Montereau was the richest 
argosy that had ever loaded at the port. Tonnil- 
lier and Eenaud applied for berths as seamen, but 
were told that the brigantine’s complement of 
twenty-five men had been secured. 

Two days later a boat came ashore at night 
from a strange ship that stood off the coast twenty 
miles above LeHavre, and the spies were soon 
aboard the Leopard. Seated in a cushioned chair 
in his cabin hung with the trophies of the seas, 
a jeweled sword with the cross and lily of the 
Brotherhood upon the hilt. Captain LaCromie 
heard the report of his emissaries from the 
French port. 

^^How now?’^ he asked as Tonnillier and Ee- 
naud saluted. 

fitting quarry for the captain before he sails 
for America,” said Eenaud. ^^A slow brigantine, 


Government Takes a Hand. 107 

the Montereau, full of money, is to go around to 
the Mediterranean.’^ 

whole fleet of frigates with her, I sup- 
pose ?” 

^Two, monsieur captain, are in the harbor, but 
we heard that they convoy the galleons.” 

^AVhen does she sail?” 

^^She should leave to-morrow, if we learned 
aright.” 

At LeHavre the stevedores and sailors of the 
vessels in port marvelled much that the Mon- 
tereau, so richly laden, should sail with so few 
men, but the government official said he was con- 
fident that Captain Combe was able to reach port 
safely. 

The brigantine dropped down the harbor at 
sundown, but before she left her dock the naval 
officers and the government officials held a con- 
ference in low tones in the cabin with Captain 
Combe. That night a roystering company of men, 
who had made merry at Trouville, put off from 
the little town on the southern shore of the Seine 
Bay in two sloops, which returned at sundown, 
but without the company of merrymakers, who 
had made their stay so hilarious while at the little 
city by the shore. 

At noon the next day the brigantine Montereau, 
escorted by two frigates, was far out on the 


io8 For the House of LaCromie. 

Seine Bay. Eight miles to windward w^as a ship 
flying the Dutch flag, apj^arently bound across 
the Channel. Off Cape de la Hague the armed 
escorts left the brigantine, no danger evidently 
being apprehended, and turned back towards 
Havre. The Dutch ship soon changed her course 
and stood down the Channel. The sun rose in a 
clear sky the following day, and the brigantine 
slowly plowed the sea on her way towards the At- 
lantic. But one sail was visible, and it was seven 
miles on the starboard quarter. While Captain 
Combe watched the Dutch ship the distance be- 
tween the boats lessened, and w^hen but four miles 
intervened, the ensign of the Netherlands was 
hauled down, the black flag with the red fringe 
was run up and the commander of the Montereau 
smiled grimly. 

Staysails were quickly put in place upon the 
brigantine, but if she hoped to escape by out- 
pacing the pirate, that expectation was short- 
lived, for the Leopard rapidly bore down upon her. 
A gun boomed from the bow of the pirate ship 
and a shot fell near the merchantman, but Cap- 
tain Combe did not strike sail or heave to. An- 
other shot whizzed over the water and kissed the 
weaves of the Montereau s wake, but she continued 
upon her course. 

^^She’s a superb ship and she’s magnificently 


Government Takes a Hand. 109 

sailed/^ was the comment of Captain Combe to 
an officer by bis side^ as he watched the Leopard 
rapidly cutting down the distance between the 
boats. 

Coming within easy range the Leopard swung 
around, evidently about to fire, when, as if by 
magic a dozen portholes upon the Montereau s 
side opened and a dozen cannon roared a fearful 
broadside at the pirate ship. The shot plowed 
through the Leopard's side, and the unexpected 
act of the supposed unarmed merchantman de- 
moralized the pirate crew, who were taken com- 
pletely by surprise. Before they had recovered 
another broadside swept the deck of the pirate 
ship, and fifteen of the crew fell dead or wounded, 
Makensie being among the slain. 

With death and disaster facing him. Captain 
LaCromie rushed among his crew, and drawing 
his sword, drove the laggards to the guns. 

^^Are you a pack of cravens now that you have 
to fight he roared. 

Ashamed of their fright the pirates leaped to 
their guns and broadside was returned for broad- 
side. The fight was gradually getting at closer 
range, and the work of the Leopard's gunners 
was telling, for one of the Montereau s guns was 
silenced; but she was still superior in the num- 
ber of cannon mounted. 


iio For the House of LaCromie. 

Blood was flowing over the decks of both of the 
combatants, but the Leopard seemed to have the 
advantage by her superior gunnery, when a broad- 
side from the brigantine dismounted two of the 
pirate ship’s pieces, killing a number of men, 
w^hile many lay wounded upon the deck. His 
fighting strength impaired, LaCromie decided 
upon flight, but his ship’s helm was disabled as he 
gave the order to go about. There is no thought 
of surrender in the lexicon of the cavalier, so de- 
ciding upon a desperate chance, LaCromie’s voice 
rang out: 

^^Boarders away !’^ 

Boatswain McGonigle acting as executive offi- 
cer wns the first to get away. Fifty efficient men 
remained, and dividing the crew into two com- 
panies of boarders, the pirates tumbled over the 
ship’s side into the boats. Moving under cover 
of the Leopard's hull, McGonigle dashed around 
the ship’s stern, but as he came in view of the 
enemy a shot struck the boat’s bow and swept the 
thwarts to the stern sheets in a swath of death. 
A second shot tore a gaping hole in the boat’s side, 
and the fate of McGonigle and his men was soon 
sealed. 

There was a dash of 600 feet to reach the 
Montereau, and lusty oarsmen pulled LaCromie’s 
boat. As his crew of boarders shot ofi into clear 


Government Takes a Hand. iii 

water from beneath the bow of his ship he saw 
the fearful catastrophe to McGonigle^s boat; but 
he urged his men on — he would die fighting on 
the enemy’s deck. 

The guns of the brigantine were now trained 
upon the single boat^ and the withering fire rapidly 
picked off the pirates. Still LaCromie urged 
the survivors to row on. Cannon shot and bul- 
lets wdiistled about the pirate chief, but he was un- 
harmed. He stood in the stern sheets directing 
the course of his boat, and in the midst of his 
command tlie stroke oarsman ceased rowing, 
sprang to his feet with a wild cry of pain, placed 
his hand upon his side and fell heavily upon the 
commander. The weight of the man bore the 
captain down, and with the sailor in his arms he 
fell backward over the gunwale into the sea. 

As LaCromie rose to the surface he saw his 
boat sunk by the brigantine’s guns, and the re- 
maining members of its crew^ hurled into the 
water. Then the firing ceased, and a cheer came 
over the waves from the victorious men of the 
Montereau. But the undaunted spirit of the pirate 
chief was unconquered, and calling to two of his 
men near him, he began to swim towards his ship. 
One of the sailors sank exhausted, but the other 
followed his captain and reached the Leopard, 


1 12 For the House of LaCromie. 


They found five men from McGonigle’s boat 
aboard. 

The captain’s gig still swung unharmed from 
the davits, and hastily exchanging their wet 
clothes for dry ones, they lowered the boat. 

^^One minute, Eenaud,” called LaCromie, as 
he saw boats put off from the brigantine, and the 
pirate chief dashed down the hatchway. He was 
gone but a short time, and as he clambered down 
the ship’s side, smoke arose from the Leopard's 
hold. 

^Tull away, men,” he commanded, and the gig 
moved rapidly away. 

Smoke came in thicker clouds from the pirate 
ship, then came a burst of flame, as though a 
volcano’s crater had broken into eruption. A 
mighty roar rent the air, and the vessel seemed to 
be lifted bodily, then was lost to sight amid a 
dense cloud that rolled outward over the waves, 
and curled high in air, while myriads of small 
objects were hurled through the black curtain and 
fell in a shower upon the waters, across which a 
great tidal wave was seen moving. When the 
smoke had lifted, the Leopard had disappeared. 

The gig was only a short distance from the 
ship when the magazine exploded, and was en- 
gulfed in the white-crested, curling wave, and the 
maelstrom that surged for a few minutes. The 


Government Takes a Hand. 113 

wave broke over the frail gig, the craft was 
whirled about like a top, then capsized. La- 
Cromie seized the gunwale of the overturned 
boat, but his companions were swept away in the 
whirling waters and sank. One of the Montereau's 
boats sighted him a few minutes later, but 
even at such odds he fought against capture. He 
was pulled into the boat and a cheer went up 
from the crew, which was answered from the decks 
of the brigantine. 

Jacques LaCromie, the only survivor of the 
priate ship, was a prisoner of the French govern- 
ment. 


1 14 For the House of LaCromIe, 


CHAPTER XV. 

FROM OCEAN TO PRISON CELL. 

Captain Combe received the pirate chief 
with marks of distinction as LaCromJe, with drip- 
ping garments but defiant air, stepped upon the 
brigantine’s deck. 

^‘^Only a Frenchman could fight like that, Mon- 
sieur LaCromie,” said the Montereaus commander 
with a smile. 

Jacques bowed in acknowledgment of the un- 
expected compliment and the air of the cavalier 
returned. 

^Aionsieur, the commander of the Montereau, 
made a hard fight quite necessary and he is to be 
praised for his victory, for he has met some bold 
men — my brave men, my sailors, who have gone 
to their death.” 

The deck of the brigantine swarmed with sailors 
in the uniform of the French navy and Captain 
Combe replied to the questioning look of the 
pirate. 

^AVe took these men on at night out at sea, 


From Ocean to Prison Cell. 115 

We have no cargo, except powder and guns. We 
came out to give Captain LaCromie a surprise.^^ 

The pirate commander bowed and followed Cap- 
tain Combe below deck. Though a prisoner, the 
imprisonment of LaCromie during the voyage 
back to port was of a very easy and honorable 
sort. He was permitted upon deck every day and 
only at sundown was under guard in his state- 
room. He sat upon the poop-deck during the 
greater part of the daylight hours looking out to 
sea and conversed but little. He had been caught 
by a clever ruse, so well planned that his spies 
did not suspect the trick — that the cargo loaded 
upon the brigantine at LeHavre was not merchan- 
dize, but naval munitions and armament. Twelve 
guns, all of larger calibre than those on the Leo- 
pard had been mounted and while the pirate ship 
excelled in speed because of her finer lines and 
greater sail area, the Montereau was more stoutly 
built and better fitted for battle. As Captain 
Combe’s prisoner surveyed the deck and its ap- 
pointments, he complimented the commander of 
the brigantine for the quick transformation of his 
boat. 

A few days after the sea fight the Montereau 
dropped anchor in the harbor at LeHavre and tak- 
ing a long and lingering look at the sea, the pirate 
captain went over the side into the waiting boat, 


ii6 For the House of LaCromle. 


When it became known that the pirate who had 
caused such terror among the shippers had been 
captured and w^as soon to be brought ashore, a 
wave of excitement went through the city and the 
docks were soon thronged with people, who pushed, 
craned their necks and stood upon every conceiv- 
able perch to get a look at the demon who sailed 
under the black flag wdth the eagle and serpent 
crest. There is that in the human breast that 
pays homage to achievement of whatever sort, and 
the presence of the crow^d is the tribute the world 
gives to any man wdio has won eminence or dis- 
tinction in any calling. The world applauds suc- 
cess and is not always particular as to the kind 
of success to wdiich it gives its plaudits. 

A guard of gendarmes from the fortress re- 
ceived the prisoner as he stepped ashore and at 
the same time a cry of mingled surprise and ad- 
miration arose from the spectators. 

^AVhy, he is only a boy exclaimed a woman, 
whose dress indicated that she was of the better 
class. 

^^The son of a nobleman who was good to the 
poor,^^ said a voice close by him, and turning 
Jacques looked into the eyes of a sailor who was 
sitting with crossed legs upon the top of a wharf- 
post. 

The crowd surged close to the guards and what- 


From Ocean to Prison Cell. 117 

ever the temper of the more respectable element 
of the throng may have been^ the rabble gave very 
clear indication that its sympathy went with the 
captive. But it is always so. The heavy gate of 
the fortress swung behind the guards and expres- 
sions of commiseration reached his ears as he was 
shut out from the view of the people in the street. 
His escorts conducted him into the guard-room, 
which smelled of common wine and tobacco, and 
walked him up to a desk upon which a register 
was lying and at which an officer presided. 

Hs this the pirate LaCromie?^^ asked the man 
at the desk. 

^^Yes.^^ 

^^Your age, LaCromie?^^ 

^Twenty-two.^^ 

^^Marriedr 

Jacques started. A vision of a pretty face and 
form came before him. 
he said. 

The officer wrote upon a slip of paper, which 
he handed to the chief gaoler, who motioned to 
the guards and the march was continued. The 
fortress was a gloomy prison^ dark and forebod- 
ing. Through the building there was the vile 
smell of tainted air, that repulsive odor of im- 
prisoned sleep. Accustomed to the fresh air and 
freedom of the seas, the pirate chief revolted at 


ii8 For the House of LaCromie. 


the thought of life in such a tomb. Through cor- 
ridor and staircase the procession moved and 
stopped in front of a wicket. Down twenty steps 
— the prisoner involuntarily counted them — the 
gaoler opened a low, black door and they passed 
into a solitary cell in which were a table, a chair, 
and a mattress. The manacles were removed from 
LaCromie's hands, the door clanged and he heard 
the decreasing echo of the footsteps of the guard. 

Jacques sank upon the chair, looked up at the 
light that came through the small grated window 
and buried his face in his hands. 

^‘^My God he exclaimed. ^^Why did I not go 
down with my ship 

Then for an hour the prisoner walked to and 
fro in his cell, involuntarily counting its measure- 
ment, then cursing the fate that had reserved him 
for capture. Crowding upon his thoughts came 
visions of the far-away home across the sea, of the 
fateful day he had turned the prow of the shallop 
southward, of his courtship upon the beach, the 
loss of his bride — then a dark spectre inter- 
vened. 

"And now' for my head the guillotine!^' he ex- 
claimed. 

Shut up with such thoughts the solitary pris- 
oner fretted in his narrow cage. On the morn- 
ing of the fourth day the echo of footsteps came 


From Ocean to Prison Cell. 119 

faintly to his cell, then were heard upon the stair- 
case and stopped before his door. Once more the 
manacles were placed upon his wrists and he was 
bidden to accompany the soldiers. Up the stairs, 
out the wicket, through the corridors, the proces- 
sion led and stopped once more in the guard- 
room that smelled more noticeably than before 
of cheap wine and worse tobacco. The officer 
at the desk wrote for a minute upon a paper and 
handed it to the captain of the guard, saying: 

^^This man goes to Paris.^^ 

Mounted upon horses, the cavalcade clattered 
out of LeHavre. To Jacques the few days’ con- 
finement in the fortress was a horrible night- 
mare, but he knew that unless he could make his 
escape, similar, if not worse, imprisonment awaited 
him at LaForce or at the Bastile, with death as 
the finale. The brief opportunity to breathe the 
fresh air was a boon, but he was too carefully 
guarded to permit of the possibility of eluding 
liis captors and he no longer had pirate gold, often 
the open sesame for men of his craft and many 
other callings. Through Eouen, Chars, and vil- 
lage after village the soldiers moved, sleeping at 
night upon straw in some loft or beneath the 
trees, and on the fourth dav, after long and hard 
spurring over lonely roads, often going until dark- 
ness overtook them — Paris was reached. 


120 For the House of LaCromle. 


Across a drawbridge over a deep ditch into a 
building of massive stone walls and eight great 
towers went the cavalcade. They were at the 
Bastile. 

The paper given to the captain of the guard 
at LeHavre was handed to an officer. Through 
gloomy vaults, where daylight had never shone, 
past cages in which were ghosts of humanity and 
dark dens in which spectres of men were encased, 
the turnkey led the prison gendarmes with the 
pirate chief. Down flights of steps into cavernous 
depths, then up again upon rugged ascents of 
stone, the procession went and halted before a 
low door. The lock turned harshly and as the 
grated door swung open slowly as though loath 
to receive an occupant, the turnkey said: 

^^ISTo. 46, South Tower.^^ 

There was a worm-eaten stool and a table and 
a foul mattress in the cell. A small chimney 
heavily barred was at the side of the narrow cham- 
ber. Four blackened walls and a heavy iron ring, 
covered with rust, fastened in this masonry, 
formed the living sepulchre in which had been 
buried both the innocent and the guilty. 

People outside the prison heard the clatter of 
hoofs upon the drawbridge as the guard from the 
fortress rode away from the Bastile to seek bar- 
racks for the night. A man of medium height, 


From Ocean to Prison Cell. 121 

sturdy of build and having the appearance of one 
who had followed the sea, stood near the approach 
to the Bastile. The captain reined in his horse 
and dismounted to adjust his saddle. 

^^Where did they put him?^^ asked the stranger 
in a low voice. 

^Tn No. 46, South Tower,’^ replied the captain, 
vaulting upon his horse and rejoining his soldiers. 

^^No. 46, South Tower,^^ murmured the other, 
as he disappeared in the darkness. 


122 For the House of LaCromie. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

THE SENTENCE OF THE PIRATE CHIEF. 

Long days and longer nights came and went to 
the pirate prisoner in his vermin-haunted cell, but 
his spirit was undaunted and he awaited his doom 
with a growing fierceness of temperament and a 
sort of savage anticipation of the day when of- 
ficialdom would gloat over his gory head. He 
lived his trial in imagination and daily pictured 
his position before the tribunal. After a full 
month of waiting the guard of gendarmes stood 
before his cell door one morning, the rusty bolt 
was shoved back and manacled the prisoner walked 
between files of his captors. 

His trial, if such the procceeding could be 
called, was a mere farce, but Jacques marvelled 
that even this formality should be accorded. Eager 
eyes strained around pillars as he w^as brought into 
the courtroom to get a sight of him; people stood 
upon tiptoe and upon ledges, only to see a young 
man, not quite three and twenty, with sunburned 


Sentence of the Pirate Chief. 123 

cheeks, upon which the prison pallor had begun to 
set. Dark eyes flashed from an attractive looking, 
almost boyish face. His form was tall, muscular 
and erect and a murmur of admiration ran around 
the room. 

Was this the terror of the seas, upon whose head 
a price had been set? 

With infinite reiteration and legal jingle of 
high-sounding phrases, the indictment denounced 
him as a traitor to the prince, our Sovereign Lord 
the King by reason of predatory war upon the 
high seas, by murder, arson and so forth. 

Jacques expected no mercy and pleaded for 
none. The government that thus charged him 
with a multiplicity of crimes had wronged his 
father, blighted his life, and the son thus arraigned 
gloated in the fact that he had made what he re- 
garded as malevolent powers feel his retribution. 
Thus he reasoned. His notion of equity was re- 
venge. 

^^What is your name?^^ asked the public prose- 
cutor. 

Jacques LaCromie.’^ 

^^What is your occupation?’^ 

^Tirate !” almost hissed the accused ; and the 
answer caused a sensation in the courtroom. 

^^You have robbed upon the high seas?” 

have taken from rich bandits who plundered 


124 For the House of LaCromie. 

the poor on land/^ was the ready retort. ^They 
were fair prizes.^^ 

Again was there a sensation and order was re- 
stored in the courtroom with some difficulty. 

^^You are a son of Pierre LaCromie^ formerly 
of the Koyal Guards 

am, sire. A good man and true, who was 
better than his betrayers.^^ 

The public prosecutor entered complaint to the 
court of what he termed the impudent replies 
of the prisoner at the bar and asked for 
conviction as a confession of guilt had been made 
by the accused. 

J acques entered no protest, though no other wit- 
nesses were called, nor was any specific offense al- 
leged, and evinced no emotion when the sentence 
of death was pronounced. Then he was led back 
to his gloomy cell. 

The long night passed and each hour of the 
day that came he waited for the call of the exe- 
cutioner. Another and still another day and night 
went by and he wondered that the exaction of the 
penalty was so long delayed. The fourth day came 
and upon a slip of paper he wrote that his death 
would take place on the eleventh of July, 1789, 
but the night came and the glittering knife of 
the gaunt headsman had not yet done its bloody 
work. Midnight, but sleep had fled and a terri- 


Sentence of the Pirate Chief. 125 

ble desire seized him to escape^ but he was in 
a living tomb. One o’clock. Two^ three — what was 
that? Outside the gloomy walls of his prison 
there came faintly to his ears the ringing of hells, 
as though in wild alarm. Then came drum-beats 
and the noise of bells and drums was drowned by 
the roar of human voices. Above the din he could 
distinguish one cry that came clear and distinct, 
yet faintly to his ears: 

^^The Bastile ! the Bastile !” 

The booming of cannon and the rattle of mus- 
ketry added to the fearful noises, as though St. 
Antoine had been transformed into a great sea, 
whose turbulent breakers were dashing against the 
rocky shore of the prison. And what was the 
mighty tempest whose mutterings penetrated to 
the cell of Jacques LaCromie and other prisoners 
in the Bastile? Had the last day, the Day of 
Judgment, about which he had learned from his 
noble and pious mother, come? 

Outside of the gloomy walls, the castellated in- 
quisition of tyranny, was a whirlpool of raging 
waters, a human sea, swept by an irresistible tem- 
pest of wrath, hatred and the awful thirst for re- 
venge. It was a sea of black and turbulent waves 
whose depths were yet to be fathomed and whose 
forces were to be spelled in livid letters. It was 
a remorseless sea with weird and terrible voices 


126 For the Flouse of LaCromle. 

that cried for blood. It was again as though the 
great lake of the bottomless pit had poured its 
fire and brimstone over the dark waves into St. 
Antoine and a legion of furies had taken posses- 
sion of the streets about the Bastile. 

Four fearful da3'^s and nights the billows rolled 
against the eight great towers. Men^ powder be- 
grimed, worked at the guns, a score ready to 
take the place of every man who fell wounded, 
dead or exhausted. Hundreds of muskets belched 
forth at the defendeis within. Behind wagons 
for barricades and from every vantage point the 
assailants hurled their shot and poured their mus- 
ketry fire; but still the drawbridge was in the 
hands of the enemy and the moat lay between the 
defenders and the turbuient human sea. 

Inside his cell the pirate chief, doomed to the 
guillotine, heard the roar of the breakers and 
fretted that he was powerless to take part in the 
scenes he pictured to himself were being enacted 
without. Wdiile he listened there was a lull in the 
tempest. Then came a roar as though volcanic 
forces had burst into eruption. 

The drawbridge across wFich many a victim of 
royal hatred and dislike had been led to a living 
death, was lowered and across this the human sea 
swept in a mighty wave, its crest running into the 
courtyard, then the tide rising until a multitude 


Sentence of the Pirate Chief. 127 

of waters filled the building. Knives flashed, 
torches lighted up the dim corridors, everywhere 
was maniacal exultation and deafening noise. A 
thousand incoherent cries filled the air, but the 
one that was most taken up was: 

^^The prisoners ! the prisoners 

At the head of this terrible host, at least the 
foremost man across the drawbridge, was a bearded 
peasant, who ran his long knife against the breast 
of a turnkey and said the life of every man in 
the building would be forfeit if a single nook in 
the Bastile was left unrevealed. Then he was swept 
on by the sea behind him. The turnkey was hurled 
against the wall as though he was but a chip on 
the crest of this wave and pressed against him was 
a form with a sunburned face, a stoutly built 
frame and the appearance of a seafaring man. 

^^Take me to Ko. 46, South Tower !’^ he de- 
manded, holding a pistol to the head of the turn- 
key. 

^Tollow me,^^ was the reply. 

Through the gloomy vaults and past the hideous 
doors of the dark dens and cages the guide led 
the way. Up through the corridors came the sub- 
dued noises of the tempest. The turnkey stopped 
at a low door, the key grated harshly in the lock 
and a voice called into the cell to the form out- 
lined by the flashing torch: 


128 For the House of LaCromle. 


^^Captain LaCromie 

The pirate chief approached as the door swung 
open and fell upon the neck of the seafaring 
man in a warm embrace. 

^^Captain Poiters was all he could say. 

^The man you rescued at the risk of your life/’ 
said the commander of the lost Mayenne. ^^You 
saved me to my wife and my family. You 
saved me to my country to help in this glorious 
day !” and in his excitement, Captain Poiters 
snatched his cutlass from his belt and waved it 
in the air. ^The Bastile has fallen and you are 
free V’ 


A Cavalier of the Republic. 129 


CHAPTER XVII. 

A CAVALIER OF THE REPUBLIC. 

Dazed by the unexpected character of his re- 
lease^ Jacques LaCromie followed the turnkey and 
Captain Poiters up the stone staircase like one still 
under the influence of a nightmare. The roar of 
voices grew louder as they moved along the gloomy 
avenues of the prison and soon Jacques found him- 
self amid a wild, jostling, surging throng, the 
jangle of voices Ailing the vaults of the Bastile 
with ominous notes. 

Gory trophies, still dripping with blood, were 
being carried upon pikes, while a forest of ges- 
ticulating arms, flashing knives and spears, 
stretched out before his vision. Though of noble 
birth and association and his sympathies natur- 
ally with the patrician class, the injustice to his 
father, the result of official cabal, had driven him 
to the common people. Irresistibly he was drawn 
into the popular maelstrom which had the Bastile 
for its vortex that memorable day in July, and 


130 For the House of LaCromle. 

he was seized with the contagion of the hour which 
had for its one thought — Vengeance. 

The slaughter of the leading defenders of the 
Bastile gave the mob additional taste for blood 
and scenes of horror from which the pirate chief 
recoiled were enacted before his e3^es. A highway- 
man of the sea though he had been, he had re- 
spected life, save in the case of Lieutenant Bell, 
of whose crime he knew, and the wanton mas- 
sacre he now saw in Paris led him to the belief 
that he had but escaped one danger to be hurled 
into another. 

While he moved with the throng, he caught 
sight of a figure in a gray coat and red decorations 
being borne along on the wave of humanity. For a 
moment the face was raised. It was Delauney, the 
governor of the state prison that had fallen that 
day. From all sides stabs were aimed at the grim 
old officer, who fell on the steps of the Hotel de 
Ville and a fury with long streaming hair severed 
his head with her knife and waved it aloft. 

A flash of Are and a roar of musketry came 
from the building and the crowd, for the moment 
panic-stricken, trampled scores to death in retreat. 
But the flash of bayonets and the glitter of mus- 
kets was seen a square away and a battalion of 
soldiers came on a double-quick. A howl of rage 
and hatred greeted their coming, but the tempest 


A Cavalier of the Republic. 13 1 

tliav, had revenge for its note rose again as the 
soldiers, instead of charging upon the mob, re- 
turned the fire from the Hotel de Ville. 

^A^ive la Republique yelled a voice and the 
mob took up the cry. 

There was a crash of glass as the soldiers di- 
rected a second volley at the building, but an an- 
swering fusillade made the attacking party recoil 
and an officer who was leading the attack stag- 
gered and fell mortally wounded. For a moment 
the troops were thrown into confusion by the gall- 
ing fire and the fall of their leader, when a young 
man in uniform sprang from the crowd and rushed 
to the side of the dying officer. Taking his sword 
he called to the troops to follow. A sea captain 
in the van of the throng called out a name and the 
cry was taken up by hoarse throats: 

^^LaCromie V’ 

The troops were rallied and charging up the steps 
were followed by the mob. In the grand corri- 
dor of the hotel, an officer in the garb of the 
Royal Guards disputed the leader’s way. A brief 
combat followed and the officer fell, pierced by 
LaCromie’s sword, while the bloodthirsty mob 
surged over his body. And again were scenes of 
anarchy enacted. 

LaCromie returned with the soldiers, who had 
joined the revolutionary party, and his exploit 


132 For the House of LaCromie. 


won him immediate recognition in the organiza- 
tion of the National Guards. He had suddenly 
found himself a factor in an awful movement, an 
expression of vengeance that appalled, but which 
none dare decry. He would have stemmed the 
black and remorseless tide, but was borne upon 
it. 

The panorama of events in the three succeed- 
ing years moved swiftly with the organization of 
the so-called government, but surfeited by the 
scenes of blood and sickened by the injustice 
wreaked upon helpless and innocent men and wo- 
men, a longing filled his heart for an opportunity 
to strike a blow for liberty from the new oppres- 
sors. The old passion of the cavalier swept over 
his soul and he fretted more over this imprison- 
ment of spirit than he did over his incarceration 
in the Bastile. Such were the sentiments filling 
his breast as the days of 1792 dawned upon Paris. 

^Toiters I” he exclaimed to the sea captain, at 
the home of the mariner, bringing his fist upon 
the table with fierce emphasis, ^^this hellish gov- 
ernment is worse than any aristocracy France ever 
had. Marat, Danton and the cowardly Eobes- 
pierre who skulks behind them, are worse tyrants 
than a whole race of kings! My heart bleeds for 
France.^^ 

^^Hush, monsieur V’ exclaimed the captain, hold- 


A Cavalier of the Republic. 133 

ing up both hands in a deprecatory motion. 
^^These very walls have ears in these days.'^ 

^^And they may have tongues/^ retorted 
Jacques. ^^Are Frenchmen home-born slaves that 
they bow down to this demon the Commune calls 
liberty T’ 

^The head of monsieur will slide off like that/^ 
replied Captain Poiters, making a motion of the 
guillotine as he spoke, ^hf his words should pass 
out of this house.” 

^^It were blood well spilled if for real liberty 
given,” replied LaCromie. 

^^Many people think like monsieur,” said Cap- 
tain Poiters, ^^but few dare think aloud like Cap- 
tain LaCromie.” 

The friends discussed the situation long and 
earnestly and it was ten u’clock when Captain 
LaCromie rose to go. Paris slept, but it was the 
sleep over which hung the pall of horror. Jacques 
was challenged by a number of sentries, but gave 
the password promptly and was not delayed. As 
he turned into the Rue St. Honore he saw a 
young girl, apparently sixteen years of age, in the 
grasp of two half-drunken ruffians and an aban- 
doned woman, who were stifling her cries of alarm 
and appeal as they dragged her away. 

^^Release that girl !” ordered LaCromie, plant- 
ing himself in front of the trio of captors. 


134 For the House of LaCromie. 

A volley of oaths was the reply. A swift blow 
in the face that sent one of the ruffians to the 
pavement was the quick response of the captain. 

^"By heavens V’ he hissed. ^^I’ll make ghosts 
of all if you don’t release her at once.” 

Drawing his sword, he struck the other fellow 
a blow on the arm. With a fierce imprecation the 
man rushed upon LaCromie, but staggered and 
fell, pierced by the weapon in the hands of the 
young officer. Seeing her companioin badly 
wounded the woman fied, followed by the man 
whom LaCromie had knocked down with his fist. 

^AVhat are you doing here at this hour, mad- 
emoiselle?” asked LaCromie. 

^‘^0, kind sir, mother was very ill and I came out 
for a physician and was returning.” 

^‘^Where do you live?” 

^^In the Kue des Chantres, monsieur.” 

^^ril accompany mademoiselle to her apart- 
ments,” said the French officer, calmly, and they 
hurried on. 

But little was said during the walk, but Jacques 
noticed that his companion was of a slight figure 
and once or twice as light from a street beacon fell 
upon her face, he saw that she had sweet and at- 
tractive features. Beaching her home he was 
about to bid her good-night when she asked : 

^^May I have the name of my brave rescuer?” 






“I am Lucille RenaudL 



A Cavalier of the Republic. 135 

‘‘I am simply a captain in the National Guards 
and would have been a coward not to have suc- 
cored a lady in trouble/^ he replied, with a bow. 
‘^And may I also inquire the favor of your name, 
mademoiselle?^^ he asked. 

am Lucille Eenaud. My father was with the 
brave and bold Captain LaCromie, of the Leopard/* 
^And a good man and true was Jean Renaud/^ 
replied Jacques quickly and with ardor. 

^And did you know him?’^ 

^Aye; I am Captain LaCromie.^^ 

The girl seized him passionately by the hands 
and in a low voice, but with much warmth, said: 

trust no ill will come to him who this night 
has saved me from an awful fate. It was Fran- 
Qois Santerre you wounded and Madame Lizette, 
a terrible woman, was with him.^^ 

Pressing his hands again in fervent thanks, the 
young girl entered her home and Jacques hurried 
to his barracks. As he was passing to his quarters 
he noticed a guard drawn up and a few minutes 
later he was summoned to the commandant’s of- 
fice. 

^Taptain, bring the family of Colonel LeBlanc. 
They are at their chateau on the Bourg-la-Reine 
road.” 

The Colonel, a prisoner at LaForce, awaited his 
doom and the shadow of la guillotine was now 


136 For the House of LaCromle. 

upon the other members of the family, for no 
greater crime than the knowledge that they were 
friends of the governmnt of Louis XVI. The 
house of LeBlanc had been active in the perse- 
cution of Colonel Pierre LaCromie and now the 
vengeance that the hoy had sworn was his at last. 
Jacques LaCromie’s heart beat rapidly with con- 
flicting emotions as his little band of horsemen 
galloped through the streets of Paris and into the 
city’s environs. He was silent and kept well in 
advance of the detail. He reined up in front of 
the chateau, rapped loudly upon the door with the 
hilt of his sword and the summons was answered 
by a servant. 

‘^‘^Where is Madame LeBlanc?” he demanded. 

^^She is asleep, monsieur,” tremblingly replied 
the terrified servant. 

^^Call her at once. I must see her. But first 
put some wine before these men.” 

The servant with lighted candle led the way to 
the wine vault, and bidding the guard, which con- 
sisted of a detail of ten men, to help themselves. 
Captain LaCromie directed the servant to con- 
duct him to Madame LeBlanc’s bedchamber. The 
entrance of the soldiers had awakened the Colo- 
nel’s wife and daughter, who well knew the mean- 
ing of the summons at that hour of the night. 
Pale and trembling with apprehension, they 


A Cavalier of the Republic. 137 

awaited the coming of the officer in charge. Cap- 
tain LaCromie left the servant in the hall and en- 
tered the bedchamber and closed the door. 

^^Madame/^ he said^ have been sent here to 
convey you and mademoiselle to LaForce. My 
men are now in the wine cellar — I took them there. 
You must fly at once.’^ 

^^Monsieur, you risk your own life in thus shield- 
ing us/^ replied Madame LeBlanc. ^^But whither 
can we fly?’^ 

LaCromie took from his pocket a paper and 
handed it to her and said : 

^‘^There is a passport to the coast. I have coun- 
terfeited the signature^ but no one will know. In 
your flight you are Madame DeLorme. I will 
keep my men in carousal at the chateau, but 
haste.^^ 

LaCromie turned to leave the room, but Madame 
LeBlanc caught him by the arm. 

^^Brave sire, to whom do we owe this service 

^^It matters not.’^ 

^Tardon me, monsieur, but my husband?’' 

‘‘1 know not. I will do what I can, but that 
probably cannot he much. Haste !” 

And he was gone. 

LaCromie stalked into the wine-room where the 
soldiers, already under the mellowing influence of 
drink, were in high revel. 


138 For the House of LaCromle. 

^They have gone/^ he said to his lieutenant. 
‘^Two fair heads less for our gay goddess, La Guil- 
lotine/^ 

Pouring out a glass of wine he raised it and 
said : 

^^Here’s to Liberty, the Commune, Fraternity, 
Equality 

A roar of applause follow^ed the toast. 

‘^Down with aristocracy and Louis Capet,” he 
continued. ‘^^The oppressors of the people, the 
foe to law and justice. The National Conven- 
tion forever !” 

^^LaCromie ! LaCromie ! the Marshal of the Na- 
tional Guard !” proposed the sergeant, and maud- 
lin cheers greeted the suggestion of the elevation 
of their captain to the head of the army. 

While the orgies filled the chMeau with the 
noise of the wild revel, the women, aided by tw^o 
servants, hastily gathered a few things for the 
journey. At three o’clock a pair of horses and a 
coach awaited them. LaCromie, who stood in the 
shadow of the vines that trailed about the door, 
bent over the servant and whispered: 

^^Do not disclose your secret until you are safely 
out of France.” 

While the revel went on, the coach disappeared 
in the darkness. In daily terror, with hopes and 
fears, scarcely sleeping, the fugitives traveled 


A Cavalier of the Republic. 139 

towards the Channel and from Dieppe sailed for 
the Netherlands. As the shores of France grew 
dimmer, two women, a mother and her daughter, 
watched their native land fading away in the 
blue-rimmed distance, and approaching them the 
servant said: 

^^Madame, I have a message. It was given at 
the chateau by the captain of the guard.’^ 

^^And why did you keep it until now?^'’ 
^^Because I was so instructed.^^ 

^^There is at least one brave spirit among the 
Commune. But what was the message he gave 
you T’ 

^^It was this: ^Tell Madame LeBlanc, when she 
is safe from persecution, that a son of Colonel 
Pierre LaCromie saved her life.’ ” 


140 For the House of LaCromie. 


CHAPTEK XYIII. 

IN THE SHADOW OF THE GUILLOTINE. 

Paris was in the black days of August, 1792, 
a blood-red sisterhood of crime enthroned in the 
livery of Liberty. The flow of blood, the rumble 
of the tumbrils to the place of execution, the 
abandonment of the imperial city to the vices of 
the purlieus, sickened the pirate chief, who longed 
for the freedom of the seas, yet was held in the 
capital by a strange fascination. It was the spell 
the serpent throws over its victim before it strikes. 

Louis XVI and his beautiful queen were pris- 
oners in the Temple Tower. LaCromie had wit- 
nessed the removal of the royal family from Les 
Eeuillants, he heard the low jibes and insults 
of the rabble and had he given way to his impulse 
he would have drawn his sword against the Com- 
mune. He heard the commandant of his regi- 
ment commend the massacre at the Tuilleries and 
its atrocities and he would fain have attested his 


In the Shadow of the Guillotine. 141 

horror of the deed and the utterance by a combat 
with the colonel, whom he despised for approval 
of cowardly butchery. The coarse rudeness and 
vulgarity with which gentility and good breeding 
were everywhere assailed filled him with disgust 
and the work of the guillotine made him register 
a new vow. Possessed with a high purpose he heeded 
not the thought that his part in the flight of 
Madame and Mademoiselle LeBlanc might become 
known. He exulted in the role in which he had 
played and rather courted martyrdom than 
shunned it. He daily saw victims of the instru- 
ment of death gladly bend their necks to the knife 
in sort of wild intoxication, and he had imbibed 
the spirit. 

Captain LaCromie was detailed at midnight in 
the middle of August to convey some of the mem- 
bers of the royal party from the Temple Tower 
to the LaForce prison. They were the Princess 
de Lambelle, Madame and Mademoiselle de Tour- 
zel and a few attendants. It was his first close 
look at the king and his beautiful queen and the 
majesty and tenderness of Marie Antoinette chal- 
lenged his admiration. A vision of his own 
mother, the stately woman who had been banished 
from her native land, stood before him and he 
longed to rush into the arms of the dethroned 
queen. The grief of the king and Marie Antoin- 


142 For the House of LaCromle. 


ette and the sorrow of the separation from the 
members of their party, deeply touched the heart 
of the captain of the guard and he felt ready to 
die then and there defending the majestic woman 
— the first woman in France. He left the Temple 
a few minutes later with his prisoners a royalist. 

will bide my time/^ he said to himself. ^^The 
hour will surely come for the delivery of my 
country 

The imprisonment of the royal family and the 
daily espionage that was kept upon them seemed 
to satisfy popular clamor and there was a lull in 
the storm, but it was only the prelude to a greater 
tempest. Everywhere the armies of France were 
being hurled back and the news of fresh disaster on 
the border sent the population into another frenzy 
— the Reign of Terror was rushing to a high tide 
— with the so-called government giving open ap- 
proval to murder and publicly rewarding the mur- 
derers. 

The crowds daily increased about the LaForce 
prison and insult and contumely were the daily 
salutations heard by the royal prisoners. It was 
the custom of the ladies to walk into the court- 
yard of the prison for exercise and fresh air, but 
as the crowd gathered in the streets was larger 
and more turbulent than at any previous time. 
Captain LaCromie halted the party one morning 


In the Shadow of the Guillotine. 143 

early in September and urged them to forego their 
promenade. 

^^The Princess may place her life in jeopardy/^ 
he said. 

^^Monsieur is very kind/^ she replied with a 
smile, ^‘^but I fear no danger. We may walk safely, 
I think.^^ 

The presence of the ladies in the courtyard was 
greeted wdth hisses, taunts, insults and curses, but 
they had become so accustomed to such salutations 
til at they heeded them not. Mademoiselle de Tour- 
zel glanced timidly at the mob and advised re- 
treat, but the Princess continued her walk. A 
coarse revolutionary song w^as caught up by the 
crowd and above the chorus could be heard the 
cry : 

^^Down with the Capets ! Dowm with Lambelle 

Then wdth a howl of rage that resembled the 
roar of hungry beasts, the mob surged into the 
courtyard. The Princess turned to flee, but was 
felled by a blow^ wdth a club. Then like a pack of 
Avolves upon a wounded deer, the incarnate de- 
mons sprang upon the prostrate woman and cut 
her body to pieces, with many acts of savage 
atrocity. 

With the onslaught of the mob, LaCromie 
called to his guard, but not a man moved. Dash- 
ing forward, he pushed himself alongside ct Ma- 


144 For the House of LaCromle. 

dame de Tourzel and her daughter. A gleaming 
knife descended toward the breast of the mother, 
but the weapon was wrested from the hand of the 
assailant by the bold and lone defender. Then 
the surging mass bore LaCromie from the women 
as though he was as cork upon the crest of a wave. 
He saw Madame de Tourzel in the grasp of a 
burly ruffian, and pushing through the crowd he 
beat off the would-be assassin. Again he was 
hurled back by the surging throng, but he re- 
gained his place by the women. As he struck the 
ruffian who had attempted murder, their eyes met 
and the recognition was mutual. He was face to 
face with Frangois Santerre. 

^^Curse you!^^ hissed the burly thug. 

Close by Frangois stood a woman with a hard, 
bloated face. Frangois pointed to the captain of 
the guard. The hag was Madame Lizette. 

Then a pike was lifted above the crowd and with 
the long fair hair of the victim falling in curls 
upon it was the gory head of the Princess. A 
yell as though the bottomless pit had vomited its 
horde of devils rent the air, but while the atten- 
tion of the mob was directed to the bloody trophy, 
LaCromie forced a way to the prison entrance 
for his charges and the door was shut and bolted. 

In their exultation over the death of the Prin- 
cess, the crowd surged out of the courtyard fol- 


In the Shadow of the Guillotine. 145 

lowing the bearer of this fresh standard of the 
Commune. 

the Temple yelled the mob and the yell- 
ing, shrieking demons in human flesh hastened to 
exhibit to the king and queen the ghastly proof 
of the fate of the beautiful and accomplished 
Princess. 

At midnight that night, Captain LaCromie was 
called before his company, his sword was broken, 
his epaulettes were removed and before the clock 
tolled the hour of one he was a prisoner in a 
gloomy cell in the Conciergerie prison. 


146 For the House of LaCromle. 


CHAPTEE XIX. 

ON THE EVE OF DOOMSDAY. 

The Conciergerie^ dark and filthy, sheltered 
many people of gentle birth that night. When 
the guard entered with LaCromie he v/as first con- 
ducted into a low, vaulted chamber in which were 
prisoners of both sexes. There were tear-stained 
faces, other faces upon which the stamp of ex- 
pectant horrors had driven away the bloom, and 
faces wreathed with calm resignation; but so mis- 
placed did all this refined company seem in such 
a tomb that LaCromie gazed in surprise. He 
seemed to be among the ghosts of a distant past. 
To heighten the effect of the scene the company 
rose as the door swung back and the newcomer to 
the gloomy shades entered. The hour, with the 
misery and squalor of the chamber, made the scene 
spectral and unreal, accustomed though he had 
become to daily arrests. 

La Cromie was conducted across the room to a 
grated door; he bowed courtously to the ghostly 


On the Eve of Doomsday. 147 

company, a murmured ^^good-night, monsieur/^ 
reached his ears and the iron door clanged behind 
him. 

The wheels of Justice, as the Commune defined 
the word, moved swiftly and no one had cause 
to complain of the law’s delay in the administra- 
tion of the Eepublic. Two days after his arrest, 
Jacques LaCromie was escorted to the Tribunal, 
where the judges, five in number, the public prose- 
cutor and the jury that gave but one verdict, sat 
every day. All except the judges wore the tri- 
colored cockades. The jury impressed the pris- 
oner as a prize lot of felons, but he was accus- 
tomed to the rule of such men Li public affairs 
and to the rabble which filled the courtroom. 

Jacques LaCromie” — his military title was 
omitted in the indictment — was accused of being 
an enemy to the government because he had de- 
fended royalty against the citizens of the Eepub- 
lic. This was the head and front of his offending, 
though other crimes against Liberty and Equality 
had been perpetrated and were summarized in the 
bill read to the court and jury. 

^^Who accuses the prisoner?” asked the Presi- 
dent. 

do !” shrieked a female voice, and a woman 
sitting in the front row leaped to her feet. 

A roar of frantic acclamations followed this in- 


148 For the House of LaCromle. 

cident and the woman was motioned to the wit- 
ness stand. 

^^Yonr name?” 

^^Citizeness Lizette Gault.” 

With much elaboration and attention to detail, 
this virtuous daughter of the Eepublic told of the 
assault upon peaceful and law-abiding members 
of the Commune in the Eue St. Honore and the 
wounding of the distinguished supporter of 
Equity, Francois Santerre, a son of the Eepub- 
lic, and the liberation of a female prisoner they 
were escorting to LaForce. Exclamations of ap- 
proval interrupted the witness and the President 
rang his bell for order, but the Fury in the wit- 
ness box indicated her profound contempt for the 
bell and the authority of the man who rang it, 
which brought fresh plaudits from the rabble. 

^^Go on,” said the public prosecutor, as Lizette 
stopped to get breath. 

^^He has cheated the Eepublic of the heads of 
her enemies,” shrieked Lizette, and once more 
there was a roar of patriotic fervor in the court- 
room. 

^^Take off his head!” yelled a peasant in the 
front row of benches. 

^^The prisoner notified the wife and daughter 
of Colonel LeBlanc and gave them secret convoy 
out of the country,” continued the witness. 


On the Eve of Doomsday. 149 

But the climax of the accusation was to come 
and the Amazon in the witness box, flushed in 
the face and out of breath by the vehemence of 
her tones, paused to recover her strength, hut the 
crowd was impatient for the recital and urged her 
on. 

^^Two days ago in the courtyard of LaForce he 
struck Citizen Frangois Santerre as he was about 
to execute the judgment of the Eepublic. There 
he saved the family of the Capets from the just 
vengeance of the people. He’s a friend of Eoyal- 
ists — he sought to kill me — and to kill a citizen 
of the Eepublic !” 

The voice of the witness rose higher and her 
gestures grew more vehement as she proceeded. 
The audience had risen and the rabble were stand- 
ing on the benches and upon every place that af- 
forded a view of the scenes within the bar of 
the court, listening to every syllable of the accu- 
sation with faces gleaming with demoniacal de- 
light and interest. Through it all LaCromie stood 
calm and unmoved by the clamor for his blood. 
He was in a mental atmosphere unknown to this 
mob and he was the only cool and collected person 
in the courtroom. 

^^Our hands were — upon — the oppressors of the 
— people !” shrieked the she-devil in the box, ^^and 
he snatched them away ! His head should go !” and 


150 For the Flouse of LaCromie. 

as she spoke, she made a motion with her hands in 
imitation of the descent of the knife on the guil- 
lotine. 

A sound terrible in its timbre, a sound vibrant 
with murder, nothing articulate in it save the in- 
satiate cry for a human life, went up from the 
rabble as the courtesan on the witness stand con- 
cluded her harangue. 

There was no pressing need for further testi- 
mony and though Frangois demanded to be heard, 
liis voice was lost in the clamor for the verdict. 
Lest his own head be in danger and to further 
cement it to his shoulders the President extolled 
the virtues of Madame Lizette Gault, the patri- 
otic citizeness, who had performed such notable 
service to the Republic. Then he ordered the jury 
to be polled. 

Though there was no need for the conspiracy 
of felons styled by courtesy the jury to act upon 
the testimony, each member of the panel patri- 
otically recorded his judgment against the oppres- 
sor of the people who stood at the bar. He was 
by birth an aristocrat and was by a very parity 
of reasoning an enemy to the Republic. 

Jacques LaCromie heard unmoved the court’s 
sentence — death by the guillotine within twenty- 
four hours — and the mob shouted for the next vic- 
tim. 


On the Eve of Doomsday. 15 1 

There was one man in that horde of human 
wolves who did not cheer or join in the ac- 
clamations. He was Captain Poiters. He knew 
there was no hope for LaCromie and after the 
sentence he qnietly left the courtroom. He walked 
towards his home in deep thought, then he sud- 
denly turned before reaching his house and walked 
rapidly to the Kue des Chantres. 

^^Mademoiselle Lucille/^ he said to the young 
girl when they were alone, ^^Captain LaCromie 
was condemned to-day. You must help save 
him.^^ 

H, Monsieur Captain? How gladly would T 
help my brave rescuer, but what can a helpless 
girl do against the Commune 

^^Much. Listen ! Where is Poland, your 
brother 

^^He is a guard at the Conciergerie.’^ 

^^Just so; when can I see him?^^ 
know not, sire.’^ 
must see him to-night.^^ 

‘^Where, monsieur?’^ 

^^Here.^^ 

The girl shook her head. 

would go to la guillotine to save Captain 
LaCromie,^’ said Lucille, tears filling her eyes. 

^^Yes, you’re in love with him,” bluntly replied 
the captain. 


152 For the House of LaCromle. 

Lucille blushed, then smiled faintly through 
her tears. 

^^How can I help him T’ she asked. 

^^See, you take your brother’s lunch to the Con- 
ciergerie ?” 

The girl nodded. 

^Tell him, but very softly that I must see him 
to-night.” 

Captain Poiters walked to his home with rapid 
strides, but was deep in thought, from which he 
was suddenly awakened by encountering at the 
Champ Elysees a company of fifty men under 
guard on the way to the Conciergerie prison. 

^^Let me think this business out,” he said to him- 
self as he sat at home with his elbows upon his 
knees and his head held in his hands. 

Long and earnestly he pondered. Then he arose 
with the look of a man who has solved a difficult 
problem and walking to a locker removed a small 
bag and left the house. The night found him in 
conference with Poland Renaud. 

take my life in my hands in this business,” 
said the brother of Lucille. 

^^E’ot if the gaoler is with you,” replied Captain 
Poiters with emphasis. 

^^But how can he be gained?” asked the young 
man. 

Captain Poiters took a bag from his coat pocket 


On the Eve of Doomsday. 153 

and placed it upon the table, then untying the 
string that bound it, poured out some shining gold 
pieces. A half hour later Eoland Eenaud left the 
house and hastened back to the prison of the Con- 
ciergerie, which he had left two hours before on a 
permit to visit his sick mother. 

In his foul cell, Jacques LaCromie awaited his 
doom. The guillotine had lost all the terror it 
might and did possess to some of its victims, but 
there was no horror in the shadow of the valley of 
death in which he now walked ; — he was calm and 
undisturbed. ISTo regrets of his conduct under the 
Commune filled his breast. He rejoiced that the 
women of the household of the LeBlancs had es- 
caped and his conscience approved his defense of 
the imperilled women at LaForce. He was but 
performing his duty as a soldier and was now to 
pay the penalty that hate demanded for that act. 
He knew he was signing his own death warrant 
when he rushed to the aid of the women in the 
courtyard, but had gone into the midst of the mob 
with the full knowledge of the probable conse- 
quences. 

^^Hundreds of better people than m3^self are 
having their heads sent to the block, he solilo- 
quized. H am content.’^ 

In the midst of his reverie the door opened and 


154 FoJ* the House of LaCromie. 

a bearded young man, apparently of his own age, 
was thrust into the cell. 

^Tomrade in sorrow, I greet you,” said La- 
Cromie courteously. 

^^Yes, both reserved for the same fate. I die 
to-morrow,” said the stranger. 

^Mf my head would stay this river of blood, 
willingly would I give it,” replied LaCromie. 

The stranger clasped his hand, then both men 
elapsed into silence. Soon his comrade knelt upon 
the floor, reverently crossed himself, whispered a 
prayer and sank calmly to sleep upon the pallet. 
LaCromie listened to the regular breathing of the 
sleeper, then bent over and looked at the peaceful 
face. By the dim light of the candle that stood 
outside the grated door he could make out the 
features and he started in surprise. 

^‘That man is my double,” he said musingly. 

Then the thoughts of LaCromie went over the 
Atlantic again to the cabin on the shore of Morris 
Biver and kneeling close to the grated door he 
wrote this message, which on the morrow he would 
entrust with the gaoler, hoping that in some way 
it would reach its destination : 

CONCIERGERIE PRISON, PARIS, Sept, oth, 1792. 

Dear Mother : — I have given my last days for 
France. You are last in my thoughts and heart. 


On the Eve of Doomsday. 155 

The vengeance I have wrought upon the enemies 
of our house has been that taught by you and has 
been kindness for hate. To the bar of that God 
you taught me in childhood to revere I go from 
a land that has no God. Jacques. 

Then he stretched himself upon the pallet of 
straw, exhausted by the day’s scenes and incidents, 
and sank to sleep. The day of doom was but a 
few hours long. And as he slept there was in the 
dim and foul-smelling prison a whispered con- 
ference and the glitter of gold as it was weighed 
with a human life in the other end of the scales. 

Two o’clock — three o’clock. But five hours of 
life and upon the tainted air of the Conciergerie 
came the sound of weeping, the voice of prayer for 
strength; yea, the petition of forgiveness for ene- 
mies. But Jacques LaCromie slept as one who had 
drawn the drapery of his couch about him to lie 
down to pleasant dreams. 

Four o’clock. Four hours of the stream of life 
to run out. 


156 For the House of LaCromle. 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE RUMBLE OF THE TUMBRILS. 

^^Hush! Do not make a noise 

Jacques LaCromie knew not whether he was 
dreaming, but was awakened to full consciousness 
by a repetition of the whispered warning and the 
knowledge that some one was bending over him 
with a hand upon his shoulder. By the dim light 
of a candle that flickered in the corridor he recog- 
nized Roland Renaud, one of his keepers. 

^^Follow me, Captain,^^ said Renaud. 

It was the first time he had been addressed by 
his title since his arrest. Scarcely knowing 
whether he was really awake or in a walking 
vision, LaCromie left his cell, the door was locked 
upon its solitary occupant, who still slept, and 
Renaud led the way through a low vaulted cham- 
ber, up a flight of stairs and stopped before a low 
door. The rusty lock creaked, the grated door was 
pulled open and Renaud entered. Neither had 


The Rumble of the Tumbrils. 157 

said a word in their passage from cell to cell and 
LaCromie simply took the incident of his removal 
as the prelude to the march to the place of execu- 
tion. 

^^It lacks but a few hours of the time^ Captain/^ 
said Renaud in a low tone. ^^At seven o’clock you 
go free.” 

^^So the Republic reckons it/’ was the reply, 
will be free, indeed.” 

^Alonsieur LaCromie/’ said Renaud earnestly, 
but still in a low tone, ^^you will pass out before 
the guard.” 

'^So will all of us,” was the laconic rejoinder. 

^^Nay, Captain, do you not understand me? You 
will go out from the Conciergerie not to the guil- 
lotine, but to freedom.” 

^To not mock me. I’m not afraid of the guil- 
lotine.” 

^Tut on this cap and this coat,” said Renaud, 
pointing to the garments; ^^shave off your beard, 
fix the ribbon of the Republic upon your hair and 
you will leave here unharmed — at liberty.” 

^AVas that man who was put in my cell last 
night — that man who resembles me — was he put 
there to die in my stead?” demanded LaCromie. 
^^Then take me back ! It shall not be !” 

^^Hush, monsieur !” implored Renaud. ^^That 
man is condemned to die to-day. It would matter 


158 For the House of LaCromle. 

not whether you went back or not — but we found 
an error on the record. Listen, monsieur ! My life 
is forfeit if you do not as I say 

The keeper spoke in low tones, but with great 
earnestness and in great trepidation. Jacques 
bade him go on. 

^^An error, I say, was found on the roll. Twenty- 
nine are recorded there to die to-day, but there 
were thirty condemned.^^ 

^^Then let me take the place of one of those 
women.’^ 

^Tmpossible, Captain ! You will cost the life of 
the gaoler, my life, the life of Captain Poiters, 
the life of my sister Lucille, whom you saved from 
Madame Lizette — Mon Dieu, Captain, do not be 
rash 

LaCromie laid his hand upon the arm of Ke- 
naud. 

^Tdl do as you bid me,’^ he said. 

The keeper whispered brief instructions, left 
the cell, closed the door and LaCromie, still won- 
dering whether or not he was in a dream, heard 
the soft echo of his footfalls, then all was quiet. 

The gray dawn was beginning to chase away 
the shadows from the streets of Paris and in the 
Eue des Chantres a maiden knelt before an altar 
and offered a petition — not for her own safety, 
but for the deliverance of a prisoner for whose 


The Rumble of the Tumbrils. 159 

sake she was placing herself in the shadow of the 
guillotine. 

Long before the hour of execution people began 
to move towards the Place de Eevolution, where the 
guillotine stood ready for its bloody work and in 
the knots of citizens who paused before the grim 
walls of the Conciergerie was Captain Poiters, 
pale, but with firm set lips and anxious face. 

One hour to live ! In the black prison the 
twenty-nine, the list of the doomed for that day, 
awaited their fate. Fifty victims brought into the 
prison on the previous day would feed the insati- 
able knife on the morrow. One hour and the sad 
procession would depart never to rc'urn. In his 
solitary cell, Jacques LaCromie still wondered if 
he was not to be numbered for the sacrifice. While 
he pondered, Poland Renaud appeared at the 
grated door, swung it open and motioned to the 
lone prisoner to follow him. 

Renaud gave a quick, searching glance at his 
charge and nodded his head in expression of his 
satisfaction. A beardless young man, boyish in 
appearance despite his stalwart mien, came out of 
the cell. He wore a red cap of the Commune and 
a ribbon of the same color tied his hair at the 
back. Renaud passed a paper into the hand of his 
prisoner and led the way down the steps into the 


i6o For the House of LaCromie. 


low-vaulted chamber, that smelled more foully 
than ever of imprisoned sleep. 

There were sounds of the moving of creaking 
bolts, the clanging of doors and the shuffle of feet. 
The cortege of Saint Guillotine was forming. 
Some in that company were weeping softly, hut 
others were standing calmly with their hands 
bound behind them, with eyes fastened upon the 
floor in meditation. There were whispered words 
of comfort, there was even a spirit of exultation 
present with some of the victims marked for 
slaughter. 

The roll-call was proceeding as Jacques La- 
Cromie entered the low chamber and his keeper 
left him standing by a gendarme, who examined 
a paper the beardless young man held in his hand 
and nodded assent. 

^^No. 10, Jacques LaCromie,^^ called the ser- 
geant, and the beardless young man by the gen- 
darme started as if in surprise and almost ut- 
tered a response. 

The hand of Eoland Eenaud trembled as he 
turned the lock, while the creaking cell door as it 
swung open made his response to the sergeant al- 
most inaudible. A bearded young man stepped 
out, the sergeant made a mark upon his list op- 
posite No. 10 and the stranger took his place in 
the fated line. The roll-call completed, the gen- 


The Rumble of the Tumbrils. i6i 


darme motioned to the beardless young man and 
led the way to the courtyard door of the prison and 
a military command to the guard in the low cham- 
ber came along the corridor in a faint, but clear 
echo. 

^^Jules de Lannoy, a visitor/’ said the guard at 
the door as he looked at the paper and the beard- 
less young man passed into the courtyard. 

^^These visitors lose us time every day/’ mum- 
bled the gendarme at the courtyard gate. ^The 
tumbril’s been here a half hour.” 

^‘^That’s so/’ replied a burly peasant. ^^I’ve 
been here for over an hour waiting to see the aris- 
tocrat LaCromie come out and get into the cart.” 

The beardless visitor did not pause or look up, 
but it was the voice of Frangois Santerre and as 
the distinguished son of the Republic gazed 
through the gate, the visitor was lost in the crowd. 

The prison door swung open and a procession 
led by gendarmes came into the courtyard. There 
was great crowding at the gate and officers were 
obliged to make an avenue through the human 
walls to the death carts that waited. The crowd 
counted twenty -nine and a voice near the second 
cart yelled out : 

^^Down with the aristocrat LaCromie !” 

The bearded young man did not heed, but con- 
versed with a lady of stately mien by his side, 


1 62 For the House of LaCromle. 

The wheels of the tumbrils rumbled a requiem 
through the Paris streets in which number twenty- 
nine seemed to be articulate. People gazed from 
houses, some with intense interest depicted upon 
their faces, others giving but a glance at the cor- 
tege, as though some cattle were on their way to 
the place of slaughter. So were peasants regarded 
before the reign of La Guillotine, so now are aris- 
tocrats and peasants paying the price of long years 
of wrong and oppression together. A guard of 
horsemen rode abreast of the death wagons and 
behind the second tumbril walked Frangois and 
Madame Lizette, but the bearded man heeded not 
their jibes and insults, but held the hand of the 
woman and bade her face the ordeal bravely. 

Platoons of soldiers of the National Guard were 
drawn up at the place of execution and the com- 
pany which Jacques LaCromie had commanded 
was stationed near the guillotine. Number one, 
number two — quickly one cart is emptied of its 
human load as the line moves towards the execu- 
tioner. Number ten mounted the platform with 
firm step, was fastened to the plank without a 
struggle, a look of contentment being imprinted 
upon his face, the knife descended and voices cried : 

^^Vive la Eepublique 

But there were tear-dimmed eyes in the line 
of soldiers that was in front of the guillotine. 


The Rumble of the Tumbrils. 163 

An hour later a coach rolled out of the city of 
Paris and was halted at the gates by the guards. 
There were four passengers. 

^^Leaving the merrymaking of LaGuillotinc for 
the day asked the corporal. ^^How went the Re- 
public’s list to-day?” 

^Twenty-nine/’ replied a voice from the coach. 

^^Only nine and twenty ? Business is slow. 
There’ll be more by and by. Which is Captain 
Poiters? And this Marianne, his wife, and this 
Louise, his daughter? And this is Jules de Lan- 
noy ?” 

And the door w^as closed and the coach rumbled 
on. Through villages, by deserted chMeaus, along 
lonely roads, by copse and woodland, with relays 
and inspections the travelers moved on. The third 
day and the coach rumbled into LeHavre. But 
still the beardless young man, Jules de Lannoy, 
could not shake off the feeling that he was but 
a spectral actor in a terrible nightmare. 

A week passed and standing upon the dock 
across which he had been brought a prisoner as the 
sole survivor of the Leopard three years before, 
Jacques LaCromie waved an adieu to Captain 
Poiters, his wife and daughter as they stood upon 
the barkentine Le Seme and slowly sailed away 
from the pier. It was to command the merchant- 
man that Captain Poiters received permission to 


164 For the House of LaCromie. 


leave Paris. He was going to take his chances 
with the privateers in a voyage to America and La- 
Cromie jocosely reminded him that he might have 
occasion to tender piratical compliments to the bar- 
kentine on the way back. 

The young Frenchman watched the vessel until 
it was far out on the harbor, then turned to look 
about him. A feeling of loneliness unknown to 
his temperament took possession of him. He 
looked down the harbor at the turretted fortress 
and pondered on the swift mutation of the three 
brief years — years that had seemed only an ugly 
dream. Ho longer an actor in the stirring scenes 
of the Commune, his inactivity oppressed him. 
In an effort to shake off the gloomy thoughts he 
crossed the street and took a seat amid the com- 
pany in a cafe. Sailors, stevedores, shippers and 
their clerks were there and the burden of their 
conversation was the news from Paris and its bear- 
ing upon the royal family. Opinions w^ere much 
more freely expressed here than at the capital. 

^The killing of the Princess Lambelle was a 
foul murder,’^ said a voice near him. 

^^But Freedom demands the death of aristo- 
crats,^^ replied a dark-visaged man. 

^^Hot by a mob,” retorted the other. ^^And so 
great a crime is defense of an imperilled prisoner 
in our accursed capital that the captain of the 






“Veil you sail 


Captain ?" 


The Rumble of the Tumbrils. 165 

guard who rescued Madame de Tourzel was sent to 
the guillotine. I honor him for devotion to duty.'’^ 

The speaker brought his clenched fist down upon 
the table, but the noise was lost in the buzz of 
general conversation. LaCromie put down his 
glass and turned to look at the speaker. He had 
a bronzed face, heavy eyebrows, shaded dark gray 
eyes, his head was set low upon his shoulders; he 
was broad-chested and had the appearance of a 
mariner. Later Jacques heard him addressed as 
Captain Guillaume. 

^^Were well you spoke not thus in Paris,” pro- 
tested the dark-visaged man. 

^True,” replied the mariner, ^^else you as a red 
republican would hasten me to the guillotine for 
free speech. Bah, Chatres ! We have dethroned 
one set oppressors to put a worse lot in power. 
But there comes Schnops. Enough of this.” 

A man of short stature and unmistakable 
Dutch origin, though he essayed French dress, ap- 
proached the pair and took the proffered seat. Fie 
smiled and his moustache caressed his nose. 

^^Ven you sail. Captain?” he asked in a strong 
Holland accent. 

^^Soon as I can find a sailing master. Monsieur 
Schneider.” 

^^Here ve lose much good time, already,” re- 
plied Schneider. ‘^Many privateers went oud and 


1 66 For the House of LaCromie. 


come in before we get away. All der brizes gone 
before we get there.’^ 

He picked up a glass of wine, looked at it and 
his moustache again caressed his nose. Then he 
lowered his voice and said: 

^^There was dat Captain LeeCromie, dat was 
had his ship sunk dree years ago. Ah, my ! Beeze- 
ness not so goot since he’s gone.” 

^^Yes, your liberty-loving Commune took off his 
head because he was too good a captain of the Na- 
tional Guard,” sneered Captain Guillaume. 

^^You took care of your share and the money he 
had in your care, too, when the French took him 
away to Paris,” said the dark-visaged man to the 
merchant. 

The brows knit, then the moustache caressed the 
nose and Schneider replied with a low laugh : 

^^Dere vas no law to stop that.” 

^^But there are some of his people over the 
water,” persisted the republican. 

^^Yell, veil, a shentleman in dot beeziness has 
no relatives.” 

LaCromie shifted uneasily, restrained himself 
with difficulty and when the group separated, he 
followed Captain Guillaume. 

That night the privateer Catherine dropped 
down the harbor into LeSeine bay and Jules de 
I^annoy was the sailing master. 


The Climax of a Cruise. 


167 


CHAPTEE XXL 

THE CLIMAX OF A CRUISE. 

The continental war between France and the 
monarchial powers of Europe filled the seas with 
privateers, but made the waters swarm likewise 
with war ships, and the licensed pirates of the 
main found their business more hazardous than in 
any year of piratical career. Jacques was satis- 
fied that the Catherine was a swift boat, her lines 
were tapering, her spars light and her armament 
of six broadside guns and a forecastle swivel was 
not too cumbrous to hamper flight from a superior 
enemy. 

A crew of seventy men, chiefly French sailors, 
formed the Catherine's complement, and while a 
few had been on trans-Atlantic voyages, the ma- 
jority were from coasting vessels; accordingly the 
sailing master at once began rigid drills in han- 
dling the ship. The blood of the former pirate 
chief tingled in his veins as the men climbed 
through the rigging at his command, the bloom 


1 68 For the House of LaCromie. 


came back to his cheeks and his old-time buoy- 
ancy of spirits returned. 

A week of cruising in the Channel passed with- 
out sighting a prize^ when at sunrise on the eighth 
day the lookout in the crow’s nest called: 

^^Sails, ho, dead ahead !” 

A southeast wind was sending the white caps 
over the ocean and crowding on all sail, the Cath- 
erine gradually overhauled the vessels, both of 
which were flying the flag of the Netherlands. A 
large merchantman west bound was under the con- 
voy of a frigate. 

^^What do you make out, de Lannoy?” asked 
Captain Guillaume. 

^^The frigate carries twenty-five guns,” he re- 
plied, ^^but that is all the better for us.” 

^^How so?” 

^^That Dutchman is as slow as a raft. We might 
damage her in a running fight, but that is too 
risky. We must coax her off.” 

It was LaCromie’s old pirate trick, successfully 
worked in a number of instances and he was told 
to proceed. Everybody aboard the Catherine was 
on the qui vive^ but the cool, collected, yet decided 
manner of the young officer who stood by the quar- 
termaster at the wheel and issued orders imparted 
confidence to the crew. 

With everything set from jibtopsail to spanker 


The Climax of a Cruise. 169 

and forecourse to mizzen sky sail, the privateer bore 
down upon the frigate like a great winged bird 
of the sea. LaCromie kept the ship on her course 
until within long range, when the Catherine's bow 
gun belched forth fire and smoke and a shot went 
whizzing into the war boat’s rigging. The frigate 
was put about to give battle, but LaCromie’s esti- 
mate of her sailing qualities was justified by her 
slow movement, for the Catherine swung upon her 
keel like a top and bore away out of range before 
the enemy could get into good position for a broad- 
side. 

^‘^She’s the Gelderland/' said LaCromie to the 
captain as they bore away with the war ship in 
pursuit. 

The forecastle battery went into action on the 
pursuer as the Catherine stood off, but the shots 
were ineffective. The manoeuvre was repeated by 
the Catherine after the Gelderland had given up 
the pursuit and once more the merchantman’s con- 
sort was drawn away, until five miles lay between 
the ships. All day the tactics were continued, the 
frigate in vain trying to get near enough to this 
tantalizing enemy to engage the foe in a fight. 

^^That trick is as good as the pirate La- 
Cromie’s,” said the man at the wheel, as the Cath- 
erine dodged away again. 

Jacques turned to find the eyes of the speaker 


1 70 For the House of LaCromle. 


fastened upon him and for the first time he recog- 
nized the sailor whose kindly remark had reached 
his ears at the wharf at LeHavre when he was 
brought ashore a prisoner. 

^^What do you know about him asked the sail- 
ing master. 

Chased him ’round these seas more’n once try- 
ing to get a line on him/’ was the reply. ^^He was 
very slick at the business, but was game when 
caught.” 

^^He was sent to the guillotine at Paris ?” 
queried the sailing master. 

^^More’s the pity/’ replied the old salt. ‘^Was 
good to his men, they say, if he w^as a pirate.” 

LaCromie smiled and made no reply, but gazed 
out to sea and his mind was flooded with memories. 
Shaking off the melancholy he felt taking pos- 
session of himself, he directed attention to the 
day’s coup d'etat. He had succeeded in drawing 
the frigate away from her consort until ten miles 
lay between the Dutch ships. The merchantman, 
evidently believing the Gelderland to be equal to 
the task of keeping off the French privateer, had 
kept on her course, though under shortened sail. 
That she was a rich prize was indicated by the 
presence of the armed escort and LaCromie im- 
pressed Guillaume with the importance of follow- 
ing her if it took a week to effect a capture. 


The Climax of a Cruise. 17 1 

The wind had decreased in force as twilight 
came^ but was still fresh enough to serve La- 
Cromie^s purposes. As darkness began to come on 
the Catherine made a daring dash upon the fri- 
gate. A broadside roared from the privateer as she 
got within range and immediately a flash of flame 
and a thunder of guns came from the Gelderland. 
Three shots struck the privateer^ one tearing 
through the Catherine's bulwarks, striking Captain 
Guillaume and hurling his lifeless and bleeding 
body to the deck. 

The Catherine went about quickly, firing 
rapidly and was again pursued by the frigate, 
whose bow guns kept in action, hut the privateer 
soon disappeared in the darkness without having 
suffered much damage aside from the death of 
her commander. Two sailors were slightly 
wounded in the short encounter, but the captain’s 
was the only life lost. His body was prepared 
for burial and at six bells was committed to the 
sea. 

^^That merchantman will be ours before morn- 
ing,” said LaCromie to the crew, ^^and we will 
not need to strike a blow or fire a gun.” 

The tactics of the day had put considerable dis- 
tance between the Dutch ships and silently and un- 
seen, all lights being doused, the privateer gradu- 
ally overhauled her intended prize. Far astern 


172 For the House of LaCromle. 

the red^ green and white lights of the Gelderland 
glimmered and when off the merchantman’s port 
bow, a half-mile to windward, two boats left the 
privateer’s side, LaCromie being in the stern sheets 
of the first boat. 

The dog watch had been set when a dark form 
came over the side of the merchantman. Then 
from both sides men tumbled over the bulwarks 
and swarmed upon the deck. There was no time 
for organized resistance, as the surprise was com- 
plete. A little knot of sailors retreated to the 
forecastle, and upon being assured that no violence 
would be shown unless there was resistance, the 
seamen laid down their cutlasses. 

Hatches were quickly closed, guards were sta- 
tioned at the companionway and inquiring the 
name of the commander, LaCromie went to the 
cabin. 

Ht is Captain Bloom I have the honor to ad- 
dress,” said the visitor from the Catherine to the 
astonished commander as he sat up and stared 
about the cabin. A half-dozen armed men were 
with this stranger of cavalier air and manners, who 
politely requested the ship’s papers, yet spoke with 
an air of authority. 

^^Ho !” exclaimed LaCromie. ^^So I have the 
pleasure of coming aboard the Cornelius Tan 


The Climax of a Cruise. 173 

Dr ebb el, from the docks of my friend Hans Schnei- 
der/^ 

^^Yon know him?’^ asked Bloom. 

^^Somewhat to my regret/^ was the careless an- 
swer. ^^Bnt time is pressing, Captain, and having 
paid onr compliments to your escort, now some 
miles astern, I will make a little change in your 
manifest.^^ 

The inventory of the cargo indicated a heavy 
consignment of gold and silver coin. 

^^Schneider kindly made the exchange into Eng- 
lish money said LaCromie, ^^but he always was 
accommodating. We will discount these three 
thousand pounds sterling for his New York ac- 
count by taking all of them, while these guilders 
and other change will relieve our pressing needs.’^ 

The Van Dr ebb el was carrying a rich cargo of 
merchandise, but to attempt to escape with her to 
a French port was almost certain to meet with dis- 
astrous failure. Furthermore, the French mar- 
kets under the influence of the revolution were not 
inviting places at which to unload such goods. 
Five miles astern the lights of the frigate glim- 
mered as she slowly gained on the Van Dr ebb el, 
and delay was dangerous, so taking the prize 
money and some wines, LaCromie’s boats hastily 
pulled back to his ship and the Catherine sailed 
away on a long tack on a northeasterly course. 


174 Foi* the House of LaCromie. 

When morning dawned no sail was visible from 
the deck of the privateer. 

^^Call the men to quarters/^ said LaCromie to 
the boatswain after the morning mess. 

There was a look of expectancy upon the faces 
of the sailors as they gathered about their new 
commander. The spoils of the previous night were 
brought from the cabin and the glittering coin was 
piled upon the deck. 

^T’m going to divide this money/^ he said. 
will take only an equal share with the crew. I 
will name Boatswain Duroc and Quartermaster 
Simon to make the count. But first they will take 
the oath to make a fair division.^^ 

Advancing^ the men placed their cutlasses upon 
the sword of the captain^ who took their pledge. 
Assisted by LaCromie^ the two seamen, after much 
mental labor, counted the money and the divi- 
sion was finally accomplished. The full share that 
would have fallen to Captain Guillaume as the 
commander was set aside first and this was placed 
in charge of the new captain. While this perform- 
ance proceeded, LaCromie made a careful study 
of his men and decided that his second coup d'etat 
could be successfully performed. Some of the cap- 
tured wine had worked its exhilarating infiuence 
upon the crew and his hour was ripe. Not a 
Bailor on the ship had ever possessed so much cash 


The Climax of a Cruise. 175 

and each had what was esteemed a fortune, while 
it had been gained at slight labor and only tem- 
porary risk. Their appetite had been whetted for 
more spoil. Raising his hand for attention, the 
new commander said : 

am Jacques LaCromie, the pirate captain of 
the Leopard/' 

Quartermaster Simon stared in amazement and 
his astonishment was shared by his fellows. 

was condemned twice to the guillotine, was 
released by the capture of the Bastile and escaped 
from the Conciergerie. We came out from Le- 
Havre on this ship, which is owned by Hans 
Schneider, who is a thief — a land shark, who 
robbed me and will want over half of the money 
you captured last night. Do you intend to give 
your prize money, the money that belongs to you, 
to this thieving Dutchman, who is too cowardly to 
fight and makes his money robbing other men of 
their earnings?’’ 

^^Hever !” yelled Duroc, and a cheer from the 
crew indicated the ready indorsement of the senti- 
ment. 

^Wv^ell, then,” continued Captain LaCromie, 
will run this ship ourselves and keep our own 
money.” 

Again a cheer went up over the waves. 

^T’ll put any man ashore who does not want to 


176 For the House of LaCromle. 

be a member of my crew. We take no life except 
in self-defense or in a fair fight. Do you take 
the oath?^^ 

Seventy gleaming cutlasses fiashed in the sun- 
light and a roar went up from seventy throats. 

^^LaCromie V’ 

Again the farmer boy from Morris Eiver, the 
soldier of the Eepublic^ trode the deck of a pirate 
ship as her commander. That day a sailor began 
work upon a fiag bearing a crest on an eagle hold- 
ing a serpent in its talons, woven upon a black field 
with a fringe of red. 


A Question of Ownership. 177 


CHAPTER XXII. 

' A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP. 

As cruising in the English Channel was at- 
tended with more than usual hazard, LaCromie de- 
cided upon a Mediterranean voyage, but an- 
nounced his intention of putting into LeHavre 
first, that the men with families might make some 
provision for their households. Two days after the 
capture of the Van Drehhel, Captain LaCromie 
was awakened by the first officer Duval at sunrise 
with the information that the boom of guns was 
heard ahead. 

HPs a fight and not a call for help,’^ said the 
Captain. ^Alore than one gun is in action.’^ 

The sound seemed to come from a direction 
nearly dead ahead and the Catherine sped on with 
all sail set in search of the combatants. Two sails 
soon loomed above the horizon. They were headed 
southeasterly and the pirate ship bore down upon 
them. An hour’s sailing revealed an English pri- 
vateer in pursuit of a French brig. The British 


lyS For the House of LaCromie. 

ship was steadily gaining, while a gnn on the 
stern of the brig was kept in action answering the 
shots of the pursuer. The ultimate fate of the 
fugitive was quite evident, however, as the pri- 
vateer carried twelve guns and many men could 
be made out upon her decks. 

Three miles from the combatants the Catherine 
came on and an officer aboard the Englishman 
could be seen scanning the new arrival through his 
glasses. 

^^Eun up the French flag,’’ commanded La- 
Cromie, and a cheer came faintly over the waters 
from the brig as the tri-colored ensign waved from 
the spanker gaff. 

The Briton carried too formidable an armament 
for an even fight, so LaCromie resolved upon his 
usual tactics to draw the privateer off from his 
prey. To all appearances he intended sailing be- 
tween the vessels, but suddenly going about, his 
port battery fired a broadside at the English ship, 
which promptly replied, but the range was too 
great for effective gunnery. The privateer did not 
change her course, evidently believing the Cath- 
erine had taken to flight, but LaCromie swung in 
a circle and passing astern of the Briton, again 
fired. 

The challenge to battle was accepted without de- 
lay by the Englishman, who came to and began a 


A Question of Ownership. 179 

pursuit, but the wily pirate kept out of reach of 
the enemy’s guns. Then the Briton returned to 
the business of capturing the brig, which was mak- 
ing good use of the diversion in an effort to get 
away. As the Briton went about, the Catherine 
came on again and once more shots were ex- 
changed, the pirate’s gunnery being trained on the 
enemy’s rigging. As the privateer’s forecourse 
was hauled in, some damage had evidently re- 
sulted. While the Briton was setting a new sail 
the Catherine showed her heels and joined the 
brig, which was heading up the Channel. She 
proved to be the St. Quentin, bound for Cherbourg 
and was convoyed by the Catherine off St. 
Pierre, her capture being prevented by repeated 
feints in the direction of the British privateer, 
which finally gave up the chase. 

It had been LaCromie’s undoing when com- 
mander of the Leopard to sail into the LeSeine 
bay, but he headed his ship in that direction. He 
was not preying upon French commerce, in fact, 
had protected it, and furthermore, had aboard his 
ship a privateer’s license, so resolved upon his 
original intention of going into LeHavre. His 
papers would protect him, and gold, he solilo- 
quized, would do the rest. Calling his men to 
quarters, he briefly stated the case. 

^^We are going into the port from which we 


i8o For the House of LaCromle. 


sailed with Captain Guillaume — Havre. While 
ashore, you are simply sailors of a privateer. We 
will stay only a day. Get your money to your 
friends, but if you are not wise with your tongues, 
your heads may feed the guillotine. I’m Captain 
de Lannoy while ashore.” 

Under the shadow of the fortress that had held 
him a prisoner LaCromie sailed. The Catherine 
dropped anchor in the harbor and about one-half 
of the crew went ashore. Later the captain’s gig 
put the commander on the dock and he reported 
the death of Captain Guillaume and personally de- 
livered his prize money. Then he hastened to the 
branch office of Schneider & Company. 

A stocky man of medium stature sat at a desk. 
As the visitor entered a moustache caressed the 
nose of the man in the chair. 

^^Monsieur de Lannoy returns soon already with 
the ship,” said the man at the desk. The mous- 
tache went up once more, the small eyes glistened 
and their owner laughed silently. 

^Uaptain Jacques LaCromie, late of the Leo- 
pardj if you please. Monsieur Schneider,” said the 
visitor with a warmth that did not seem at all 
necessary. 

Hans Schneider gave a start as though the vis- 
itor had thrust him with his sword and the mous- 
tache caressed the nose in a very excited manner. 


A Question of Ownership. i8i 

^^Gott in himmel!’^ exclaimed the Dutch mer- 
chant. the dead come alive 

^^Not through any act of yours, nor anything 
you would have done to bring it to pass/^ retorted 
the pirate chief. 

thought—” 

^‘1 had gone to the guillotine,” interrupted 
Jacques, ^^and it was not needful that you file 
papers at the LeHavre fortress to help send me 
there.” 

The Dutch merchant glanced uneasily towards 
the door, but J acques locked it and put the key in 
his pocket. 

^^You have robbed me and my men and it was 
my money that saved your worthless head from go- 
ing to the plank under the knife ; but that instru- 
ment is still at work and you will go there unless 
you sign that paper.” 

LaCromie drew from his coat pocket a transfer 
of the ship Catherine and big beads of perspira- 
tion came upon the brow of Hans Schneider as he 
scanned it, while his nose and moustache grew very 
friendly and held frequent conferences. 

^^You ask me to give you that ship?” 

^^Ho ; she’s mine anyway, and I’ll leave here with 
her when I’m ready. You have stolen the price 
of five ships from me and if I’d catch you on the 


1 82 For the House of LaCromle. 


high seas, I'd string you up at the yardarm. You 
will sign that, too.^' 

And LaCromie pushed a cheque towards him as 
he spoke. 

^Oust as you please,’^ resumed the pirate chief 
watching the hesitancy and trepidation of the 
merchant. ^^You can fill out that cheque, which is 
to victual my ship, or go to the guillotine.^^ 

As LaCromie spoke, he took a paper from his 
pocket and slowly unfolded it. 

‘^1 got that from the Van Dr ebb el a few days 
ago,^^ said the pirate chief. ^^Some very interest- 
ing facts you have been giving to the Netherlands 
about the LeHavre fortress and some quite tersely 
told stories about the Eepublic. Schneider, you 
may sign or refuse, as you please.’^ 

The Dutch merchant gasped and sank into his 
chair, while his face grew red, then very pale. 

^Tor heaven^s sake. Captain/^ he implored, ^^do 
not give up dot paper 

^^Then signP 

With trembling hands that twice dropped the 
quill, Hans Schneider put his name to the paper 
that transferred the Catherine to LaCromie, then 
made out the cheque for 10,000 francs, drawn to 
the order of Jules de Lannoy. 

^Tf it is known that I have returned — that is, 
if Captain LaCromie is here — I will know that 


A Question of Ownership. 183 

the information came from you. And it will not 
be well for you to have anything to say on that 
subject.^^ 

And with a cavalier-like salute^ the pirate chief 
unlocked the door and stalked out. 

Hans Schneider mopped his face with his 
handkerchief, then sat with his elbows upon the 
table and his head resting between his hands. For 
ten minutes he pondered, then creeping to the door 
he turned the bolt and went to his safe. 

have some babers, too,^^ he said, taking out 
a blue envelope from a drawer. Couthon is 

a big man in Paris now. This may be of use.^^ 
Again the moustache caressed the nose and Hans 
Schneider laughed silently. It was as though a 
fiend was exulting over some prospective torture 
of a victim sent down into his care. 

^AVhile I waits, he may be gone,^^ he solilo- 
quized. ^^Vat if when I gif dot letter to dat Pre- 
fect, he got dot letter from LaCromie? Dot 10,000 
francs I must stop. It will fix dot Prefect and save 
my head, which is not too tight while dot pirate 
is around. Put vat a fool I am mit m^/self al- 
ready. Vile I sit here he lives to make mischief. 
Henri, come right away, quick 

In answer to his summons, a clerk entered the 
office and he was entrusted with a message to the 
bank to stop payment upon the cheque, then the 


184 For the House of LaCromie. 

merchant hastened to the office of the prefect of 
police. He was obliged to wait nearly an hour be- 
fore he could secure an audience with that func- 
tionary. 

^^How now, Monsieur Schneider asked the pre- 
fect. 

The Dutch merchant drew a blue envelope from 
his pocket and handed it to the official. It read : 

Clare Island^ 1788. 

Mons. Blumm^ Eotterdam: 

The best of the picking of the French cargoes 
will be found in this consignment. The insult 
to our house is being repaid in French booty. 
The Leopard will touch here for the return in two 
months. J. LaC. 

^Why do you bring to me dead men’s letters?” 
asked the prefect. 

^^But he is not one dead man.” 

^^LaCromie, the pirate? His head was chopped 
off in Paris.” 

^^Vell, it was chopped on again. He was in 
Havre now and he is a pirate again.” 

The prefect looked at the merchant and smiled 
increduously. 

^^He vas in my office one hour ago. He is Cap- 
tain Jules de Lannoy now with the Catherine 


A Question of Ownership. 185 

and is going avay dis very day. And he vill make 
war mit French ships, he vill 

^^Monsieiir Schneider does but dream/’ replied 
the prefect, smiling at the vehemence of the mer- 
chant. ^^De Lannoy, I believe, is the name of the 
new captain of the privateer Catherine^ but I don’t 
chase ghosts of dead men.” 

^^Can I no make you believe de Lannoy is La- 
Cromie,” protested the m.erchant in desperation. 
^^He come into my office dis day. I say, ‘How do 
you do, Monsieur de Lannoy?’ He raise himself 
so, and say, ‘Captain Jacqueeze LaCromie, if you 
please.’ He rob me right in my own office !” 

“So,” replied the prefect satirically, “he works 
your own practices upon yourself. I would like 
to see the man who can do that.” 

“You do nuddings, Monsieur Brefect !” de- 
manded the now aroused Dutchman. “You let 
one pirate go v/hen hees ship is in Havre?” 

“Maybe what you say is so,” said the prefect, 
who began to be confused by his visitor’s insist- 
ence. “I’ll stop this ship from leaving port until 
I have investigated.” 

The prefect touched a bell upon the table and 
a gendarme entered. Writing a note, the head of 
the department of safety dispatched a messenger to 
the commandant of the fortress, then ordered a 
guard of gendarmes and left the room. 


1 86 For the House of LaCromie. 


As the merchant reached the street, he saw an 
orderly galloping away towards the fortress, then 
he laughed silently and the moustache caressed his 
nose. His clerk was waiting at the office when the 
merchant returned. 

^^Did you go to the bank?’^ he asked. 

Ht was too late. Captain de Lannoy had been 
there and the cheque was honored.^^ 

Schneider stamped his foot in a rage and snatch- 
ing up an ink bottle he hurled it at the clerk’s 
head. The luckless messenger dodged behind the 
desk and the missile broke against the wall in a 
great splash of ink and crash of glass. 

^^Vy did you not hurry?” he demanded. 

did, sire,” protested the clerk, seizing a stool, 
^^and I’ll hammer your brains out if you try that 
again.” 

Schneider, like all men of his class, was a 
coward and the sudden rebellion of the assistant 
cowed him. 

^^See, see,” he said quickly. did mean no 
harm. But vy could you not stop him?” 

^^De Lannoy went right from here to the ex- 
change, that’s why.” 

Schneider mopped his face, pondered in silence 
for a few moments, then left the office. He crossed 
the street and walked along the wharf. The gleam 
of oars of a captain’s gig was seen as the boat 


A Question of Ownership. 187 

moved towards a ship out in the harbor and to his 
intense chagrin and disappointment^ he recognized 
the Catherine's commander. He Avatched the gig 
until it touched the ship, saw the captain and his 
crew disappear over the side, and again he stamped 
in impotent rage. 

^Hle will get away before that snail of a brefect 
can get awake,^^ he said to himself. 

As he soliloquized, a guard of gendarmes, fol- 
lowed by a curious crowd, came around a street 
corner and marched to the dock, where Schneider 
was standing. Some little delay was experienced 
in getting a boat and the Dutch merchant chafed 
in anger over the tardiness displayed, his mous- 
tache and nose coming into much sympathetic fel- 
lowship as he watched the landsmen cautiously 
climb into the long boat. 

Four sturdy fishermen pulled at the oars and 
the prefect and his guard headed for the Catherine, 
three-quarters of a mile out in the harbor. The 
gendarmes climbed up the ship’s side wdth evident 
difficulty and the customary display of landsmen’s 
awkwardness. 

^^Halt!” cried a commanding voice. ^^You are 
dead men if you advance another step !” 

Trained upon the prefect and his guards as 
they reached the deck was the grim muzzle .of one 
of the Catherine's cannon, with a sailor at the Ian- 


i88 For the House of LaCromle. 

yard. Drawn up in a semi-circle on either side 
of the gun stood the ship’s crew armed with car- 
bines. 

^^Eeady !” came the command from Captain La- 
Cromie, and seventy gunlocks clicked ominously. 
^^The gendarmes will ground arms/’ he added af- 
ter a moment’s silence and they obeyed promptly, 
for there was something in that voice that did not 
brook disobedience. 

Abashed and chagrined by the unexpected turn 
things had taken, the prefect found himself a 
prisoner of the man he had come to accuse of 
treason. 


The Diplomatic Relation. 


189 


CHAPTER XXIIL 

THE DIPLOMATIC RELATION. 

^^Monsieur^ the prefect, will join me in the 
cabin/^ said LaCromie, saluting the official as he 
led the way aft. 

The commander of the Cathervie motioned M. 
Chaumette to a chair, then said : 

owe the honor of this visit to my friend, 
Hans Schneider, I presume 

The prefect looked confused and ill at ease, 
then asked: 

am addressing Captain LaCromie, I believe 
^^You are, sire.^^ 

^Tormerly of the Leopard f 
^^Yes, monsieur,’^ and LaCromie smiled at M. 
Chaumette^s mystified look. ^T suppose Schneider 
told you that 
^^SchneiderT 

^^Yes, I saw him going into the office of the De- 
partment of Public Safety. I knew he would go 
there after the little interview I had with him. 


190 For the House of LaCromle. 

Now what orders have been given concerning me 
over there at the fortress 

Again the prefect indicated his embarrassment. 

^^The commandant has orders to fire upon you 
if this ship attempts to leave the harbor.^^ 

^^We are going out to-day and you will go along 
unless that order is revoked. If the fortress fires, 
you will be on deck while the firing is going on.’^ 

LaCromie looked upon the discomfiture of his 
prisoner in silent amusement for a few moments, 
then said: 

^^Now, Monsieur Chaumette, we may as well stop 
this foolishness. Schneider, the old renegade, 
ought to go to the guillotine for his rascality, and 
fearing I would send him there he sought you. If 
I lose my head, the head of Hans Schneider and 
that of the prefect of LeHavre will drop about the 
same time.^^ 

M. Chaumette started and in a husky voice he 
asked : 

^^What means monsieur, the captain?’^ 

^^Only a short time ago I overhauled one of 
Schneider's ships, the Van Drehbel. I found some 
of his correspondence that would make trouble for 
you and for him if I should send it to Paris." 

The prefect shifted uneasily and LaCromie noted 
the effect of his words. 

^^The cruise of this ship," continued the captain 


The Diplomatic Relation. 19 1 

of the Catherine, ^Vill be to your advantage. It 
will be the end of your career to stop it. Further- 
more, neither you nor your guard could get away 
alive if you attempted to put your intention to 
arrest me and take me ashore into etfect.^^ 

Rising from the table at which they were sit- 
ting, LaCromie walked to a locker, took out a small 
bag and placing it in front of the prefect said : 
^^There is part of your share in advance.^^ 

The partners in ill-gotten gain clasped hands 
and the compact was sealed. In all ages gold has 
been the most potential factor in bringing men 
together in illicit bargains and LaCromie knew its 
value. With the prefect in his power, LaCromie 
threw aside his diplomacy of speech and talked 
with the directness of a man who knew his advan- 
tage and was determined to dictate terms. The 
complicity of this official was necessary to the 
safety and security of the pirate chief and he soon 
presented a reason that appealed to the cupidity 
of the prefect and secured his assent to his plans ; 
and the glitter of the gold pieces opened the way 
immediately. 

LaCromie was satisfied that the prefect had come 
aboard the Catherine for the purpose of exacting 
a fee under the threat of arrest for treason, but 
the police official had been outwitted by his own 
unexpected arrest, and that under the very guns of 


192 For the House of LaCromle. 

the fortress. The daring of the proceeding amazed 
him^ yet challenged his admiration for the pirate 
commander. The bargain dictated by his host 
made, wine from the ship's locker made the heart 
of M. Chanmette merry and for half an hour the 
plans of the Catherine's cruise were discussed. 

Ht lacks two hours of high water/’ said La- 
Cromie rising. ^T leave port on the change of 
the tide. You see that the order at the fortress 
is revoked.” 

^^Monsieur will not be molested by French guns/’ 
replied the prefect, and he followed the captain up 
the companionw^ay. 

The crew’s two platoons were still in place flank- 
ing the gun, but a nod from LaCromie sufficed 
and Duroc’s command brought the carbines to the 
position of salute. The parting at the ship’s side 
was accomplished with all naval pomp and cere- 
mony, the profuse professions of the prefect’s good 
wishes and the assurances of his distinguished con- 
sideration being spoken with many bows and 
courtly salaams. So great was his urbanity that it 
was not even disturbed by the slight incident of 
one of his gendarme landsmen missing his footing 
on the ladder and tumbling overboard. Even the 
excited shouts of the guards did not ruffle him as 
they yelled orders, but did nothing to rescue their 
fellow, who was puffing like a porpoise when he 


The Diplomatic Relation. 193 

seized a rope dropped overboard by a seaman on 
the Catherine. 

Slowly the boat was rowed back to the wharf. 
Its departure had been witnessed by a crowd of 
people^ who marvelled at its long delay at the ship’s 
side^, then nearly pushed the outer rim of humanity 
on the wharf into the water as they surged r 
places at which to get a glimpse of the- piisoner 
they expected to find with the gendarmes 

^^The captain of that ship out there is not in 
that boat/’ said a fish woman. 

A man standing near her who was trying to look 
over the heads of the people in front of him^ 
looked much displeased and his moustache held 
a consultation with his nose. 

^^No new head for la guillotine/’ said a dark- 
visaged man who wore a red cap and carried a 
pistol in his belt. 

The prefect brushed close to Hans Schneider, 
as he came ashore and walked between the lines 
of people on the wharf, but there was no recog- 
nition; the guard marched across the street and 
disappeared around the corner, while the disap- 
pointed throng on the dock dispersed. 

Two hours later as the tide began to run out 
and the breeze blew fresh from the west, the Cath- 
erine weighed anchor, her sails were set and the 
white-winged freebooter’s bow was turned towards 


194 the House of LaCromle. 

the sea. The French flag at the spanker-gaff was 
dipped as she passed the fortress and a carronade 
on the parapet boomed an acknowledgment of the 
salute of the licensed wolf of the LeSeine. The 
morrow found the Catherine out on the choppy 
waves of the Channel flying a black flag with an 
eagle and serpent crest with a blood-red fringe. The 
second day out the pirate was looting a prize. La- 
Croniie had entered upon the most daring and the 
most successful part of his career as a bucca- 
neer^ and like all men of his calling was being 
lured to his fate. 

After a week’s cruise^ the Catherine put into 
Cherbourg to replenish needed supplies and again 
LaCromie found his diplomacy necessary in deal- 
ing with the virtuous officials of the Eepublic who 
were troubled with the itching palm. Privateers 
lay at anchor in the harbor, murderous-looking 
sailors lounged about the docks and the city was 
full of unrest. It was the home of his boyhood, 
but though the streets were familiar, the scenes of 
thrift and industry were replaced by violence and 
bloodshed. Weighing anchor the following day, 
the Catherine stood along the coast to the town of 
Granville, where a stalwart sailor went ashore with 
the captain in his gig. 

‘^You will not fail, Marmande?” asked La- 
Cromie. 


The Diplomatic Relation. 195 

I, Captain/' he replied, 
is a task full of danger." 
know it." 

^^Get them to LeHavre in six weeks." 

^^Aye^ aye, sir." 

LaCromie pressed the hand of the seaman in 
a warm grasp, the sailor walked away and the 
pirate captain returned to his ship. The Cath- 
erine's course was set northward and she stood out 
for the English Channel. LaCromie's plans were 
changed by news received at Cherbourg and he 
headed for St. George's Channel, intending to 
cruise on the Irish Sea. Rounding Land's End, he 
put into Bristol Channel, but off Swansea was pur- 
sued by a British frigate, which gave him a hot 
chase, but he gave the Briton the slip at night 
and headed north. Off Anglesey another British 
frigate endeavored to get within conversational dis- 
tance with her guns, but LaCromie declined ne- 
gotiations of that character and led the British 
boat a chase, then when night came he doubled 
on his track and boldly sailed back towards the 
mouth of the Mersey. An armed merchantman 
was encountered and her captain immediately gave 
battle, but the Catherine stood off out of range and 
followed the Briton, keeping a position to wind- 
ward. All day the pirate ship hovered near, veer- 
ing off with each attempt of the merchantman to 


196 For the House of LaCromle. 

come to close quarters, but at sundown the Cath- 
erine's bow was turned northward and as she thus 
gave notice of apparent intention of giving up the 
prize, a gun from the Briton boomed a taunt. 

Darkness soon veiled the waters and the Cath- 
erine with doused lights turned and went in search 
of her prey. At three bells the lights of the Eng- 
lish ship were made out on the port bow of the 
pirate vessel. The merchantman was sailing south- 
west, but the wind was falling and LaCromie 
feared that his plans would fail. At eight bells 
he was abreast of the quarry, a mile to leeward 
and could plainly hear the tolling of the hour. He 
heard the call for the larboard watch and he sum- 
moned his men for instructions. 

The wind was light when an hour later two 
boats left the Catherine on their dangerous mis- 
sion. LaCromie commanded one and Duroc the 
other. The sea wolves approached with muffled oars, 
who attacking on the port side were discovered 
and the alarm was sounded. The first sailor to 
reach the bulwarks of the merchantman fell back 
with his body riddled with bullets, the second was 
knocked overboard with a belaying pin and the 
repulse of Duroc' s men would have been accom- 
plished at the ship’s side, so fierce was the defense, 
had not LaCromie’s boat crew poured over upon 
the deck from the starboard quarter as the awak- 


The Diplomatic Relation. 197 

ened seamen of the merchantmen came tumbling 
up the companionway. 

The defenders were driven from the port side 
by LaCromie’s assault and Duroc’s hoarding party 
were thus enabled to reach the deck. The crew of 
the merchant ship were driven towards the fore- 
castle after a brief battle and LaCromie then sent 
two sailors to the cabin to make a prisoner of the 
captain, but he was already upon deck and he and 
the pirate commander met in personal combat. La- 
Cromie was the superior swordsman and in en- 
deavoring to retreat to join his crew the Briton 
fell over the body of a dead sailor upon the deck, 
was disarmed and made a prisoner. 

Grouped at the forecastle the English sailors 
prepared for a desperate defense. Again the diplo- 
macy of the French freebooter came into service. 
He halted his crew as they were about to make an 
onslaught and addressing the defenders said: 

^^Men, we are more than three to one of you. 
Your captain is a prisoner and to tight is simply 
to invite death. Your lives will be safe. You 
may as well give it up.’^ 

^^Yever !^’ exclaimed the boatswain. 

The Catherine's men moved closer, there was the 
flash of cutlasses in the ship^s dim light and the 
click of pistol locks was heard. 


198 For the House of LaCromie. 

be it, then/^ responded the pirate chief. 
^"Biit there can be but one result.” 

^^Hold, men,” cried the captain, who was 
strapped to a stanchion. ^^There is no use of 
further slaughter.” 

A parley followed, a truce was agreed upon and 
LaCromie went aft with the captain, 
have the honor of addressing — ” 

^^Captain Blakeley, of the ship Windemere, from 
Liverpool for New A^ork,” said the Briton bluntly, 
^^and if we had been given a chance at you to- 
day you would. have gone to the bottom.” 

^^But we were quite careful that Monsieur Blake- 
ley did not get the chance,” replied the urbane 
freebooter as he took the manifest. 

thought you had given up the notion of try- 
ing to capture us,” said Captain Blakeley, ^Vhen 
I saw you sail away.” 

^^Night was more fitting for our style of calls,” 
responded LaCromie with exasperating cheerful- 
ness. 

^^You steal politely,” retorted Captain Blake- 
ley with strong irony. 

^^Yes, if you prefer to put it that way. But 
the gold in the ship^s chest and cargo is the easi- 
est commodity to dispose of and it suits my men 
better, for they are rather particular. But these 
spices are all right, too. There is no use in send- 


The Diplomatic Relation. 199 

ing these jewels to the Dutch in New York or the 
Quakers there in Philadelphia^ while this lot of 
w^atches will do better in another market.^^ 

And thus gaily the pirate chief rattled on while 
Captain Blakeley ground his teeth in vexation 
and muttered curses on his luck. 

The looting process lasted for several hours and 
the booty was then transferred to the Catherine, 
which had sailed close to the Windemere in re- 
sponse to a signal from Captain LaCromie. The 
pirate chief was the last to leave the merchantman 
and as he pulled away he heard the rapid move- 
ment of feet upon the deck of the Windemere and 
the rumble of the gun carriages. 

^‘The guns of our friends^ the Englishmen, were 
spiked before we left and a salute in honor of our 
departure is quite unnecessary/^ said LaCromie 
merrily and a laugh greeted the sally. 

The wind had almost died out and there was 
scarcely enough breeze to fill the sails of the Cath- 
erine, which rolled upon the swell of the Irish Sea, 
making but little progress. As the gray dawn 
crept over the eastern sky and gradually drove away 
the shadows, the lookout made out the form of a 
large ship five miles astern. Captain LaCromie 
was called on deck. Two miles on the starboard 
lay the Windemere. The stranger astern was a 
British frigate of twenty-five guns. 


200 For the House of LaCromle. 


CHAPTEE XXIV. 

THE VIGILANT WAR SHIPS. 

If there was any doubt aboard the British frig- 
ate of the character of the two vessels revealed by 
the daylight, the commander of the war ship was 
not left long to conjecture, for a boat put off from 
the Windemere to convey the story of the night at- 
tack. The news was flashed ahead of this messen- 
ger by LaCromie himself, who with the bravado of 
the buccaneer ran up his black flag with the eagle 
and serpent crest. 

^^Settle away sheets and halyards,^^ came in clear 
sharp tones. 

Sailors scampered into the rigging of the pirate 
ship and like magic sails upon yardarms, top- 
sails and staysails quickly disappeared under the 
clews. 

Four of the Catherine's men had been lost in the 
capture of the Windemere and ten were wounded, 
but the pirate chief felt able to repel the force that 
he knew would soon be directed against him. Two 


201 


The Viligant War Ships. 

hours passed and in that time LaCromie had made 
preparations for a vigorous defense. Sand bags, 
bales and dunnage were piled around the man at 
the wheel, while the gun crew on the forecastle 
were similarly protected from the enemy’s fire. 

As LaCromie expected, the British commander 
waited for the wind, that he might attack with his 
frigate, then was obliged to dispatch four boats 
with boarders. A fifth boat from the merchantman 
joined the squadron. The attacking party moved 
slowly into position in a wdde circle, then simulta- 
neously began the approach from the four quarters. 
The oars dipped deliberately until the boarders 
were half a mile distant from the pirate ship, a 
howitzer in the bow of the boat that lay astern of 
the Catherine boomed a signal and a dash was 
made for the prey. 

Nearer came the British, but not a shot was 
fired from the Catherine. The how howitzers 
opened fire from the frigate’s boats at two hun- 
dred yards, but the pirate did not reply until the 
foe was within one hundred yards, when a single 
gun belched from the larboard battery and when 
the smoke had cleared away the crew of one boat 
w^as seen struggling in the w^ater. Then a star- 
board gun fired, followed by the forecastle battery 
and all was again silent. One crew of assailants 
was in the water clinging to the sides of the over- 


202 For the House of LaCromle. 

turned boat, while another was pulling away with 
the dead and wounded, and a cheer went up from 
the pirate seamen. 

^They will be back again,” said LaCromie to 
his men. ^^They will not give up so easily. These 
British have only begun and will give us plenty 
to do before we are done with them.” 

Two boats went to the rescue of the men in the 
water and the Catherine's crew quietly watched the 
English tars at work, LaCromie refusing to permit 
his men to fire. 

^^We will fight when it is necessary,” was his 
reply, ^Tut we will not murder brave men.” 

It was the fiattering unction that the bucca- 
neer laid to his soul, that his business was all 
right so long as he did not kill any more men than 
was necessary in the prosecution of his calling, 
but back of this there was in the heart of the pirate 
chief that respect that every really brave man feels 
for another equally courageous. 

^^That’s the Lord Percy," added LaCromie, as he 
made out the name on the frigate’s boats. 

Over an hour passed and still the ships lay be- 
calmed, rolliug upon the swell of the Irish Sea, 
with no sign of a breeze. Then six boats left the 
side of the British frigate and moved slowly to 
a position a mile astern of the pirate. The sec- 
ond attack was to be made from a position that 


203 


The Viligant War Ships. 

would not subject the boats to the fire’ from the 
ship’s batteries, but before the dash of the British 
boats began, the Catherine moved slowly around. 
LaCromie had given orders to fasten a cable 
around the mizzen mast, then carrying it through 
a stern port, the end was hauled on deck, an an- 
chor attached and thrown overboard aft. The ef- 
fect, through the influence of the swell, was to 
veer the ship. 

The frigate’s boats followed the manoeuvre by 
taking a new position, whereupon the order was 
given to haul in the anchor, but at the same time 
the boats made a dash for the pirate vessel. How- 
itzers were trained upon the Catherine and the 
smoke obscured the 'enemy’s approach. Small shot 
was coming aboard and the splintering of the tim- 
bers was heard, but beyond this there was perfect 
silence aboard the Catherine. 

^^Steady, men,” said LaCromie to his crew, 
nearly all of whom were grouped on the after 
deck. 

The boats were now at close range, coming 
swiftly towards the black hull of the pirate ship. 

^^Eeady,” commanded LaCromie, and there was 
the click of carbines. ^'Aim — fire !” 

Each boat was covered by the pirate crew and 
a number of men were seen to fall or drop their 
oars. The aim was deadly and in the confusion 


204 For the House of LaCromie. 

that ensued more men dropped under the vol- 
leys frond the ship. But despite the galling fire, 
the determined sailors of the forward boat pushed 
under the stern of the Catherme and began to 
clamber up the anchor cable that still dangled 
from the stern port. 

A huge object tottered a moment on the Cath- 
erine's rail and fell with a crash. It was one of the 
bales used for a rampart and was thrown amid- 
ships of one of the frigate’s boats, tearing out the 
side and hurling the British tars into the water. 
A second boat met the same fate while its crew 
was trying to set fire to the pirate ship, but un- 
daunted by the wreck, two boats of the Percy 
reached the Catherine's side and a bloody hand-to- 
hand fight ensued. The defense was vigorous, but 
the pirates were gradually forced back and two 
boats’ crews leaped over the ship’s sides. There 
was the slash of cutlasses, pistols kept up a fus- 
illade, while execrations and coarse oaths made the 
Catherine's deck an inferno. 

In the forefront of the fight was the pirate chief, 
doing rapid execution by the skillful use of his 
sword, and cheered on by his example his crew 
beat the first invaders back, but when the rein- 
forcements came over the side and a roar of exul- 
tation went up from the British tars, the day 
seemed lost for LaCromie. Giving the order to re- 


The Vigilant War Ships. 205 

treat, the pirate chief rushed with his men to the 
forecastle. 

While the hand-to-hand fight was in progress, 
the swivel gun had been trained down the deck 
and as the pirates rushed to the starboard side, the 
cannon belched out a fearful charge of shrapnel, 
mowing down the invaders and tearing splinters 
from the ship’s bulwarks. Leaving their dead and 
wounded upon the deck, the Britons left the ship, 
tumbled into their boats and pulled away. 

Fifteen of LaCromie’s men lay dead upon the 
deck. French and British slain lying in a circle 
amidships told of the desperate character of the 
combat. Twenty of his seamen were wounded, 
some of them so seriously hurt that they were still 
lying across the dead bodies of friends and foes, 
their blood mingling with that of the slain, dye- 
ing the Catherine's deck a gory hue. While he was 
caring for the wounded, LaCromie noticed for the 
first time that a breeze had sprung up and that 
the Lord Percy was bearing down upon him. 
Crippled though he was by the loss of so many 
men, LaCromie had the sails of his ship set as 
if by a magician’s wand and with her great white 
wings spread, the Catherine bore away. 

The breeze freshened and going before the wind, 
the Catherine slipped over the waves, but the Lord 
Percy was gaining steadily. 


2o6 For the House of LaCromle. 


always do better with the wind on the 
quarter, Duroc/^ said the captain and the man at 
the wheel w'as ordered to port his helm. 

The frigate was only three miles astern and she 
immediately went on the reach to port to inter- 
cept the pirate, evidently expecting to easily over- 
haul her enemy, but the Catherine went on a course 
towards the southeast and again there was a stern 
chase, but with the frigate no longer gaining, for 
the wind was freshening and the pirate ship was 
bounding over the billows. After a half-hour’s 
sailing, LaCromie boldly swung around and headed 
south with the wind on his quarter. 

The Percy was somewhat slow in changing her 
course, but she went on a reach to head off the 
fleeing Frenchman. Save the creaking of yards 
and cordage under the strain of the sails, all was 
silent aboard the Catherine, As LaCromie ex- 
pected his ship outpaced his pursuer in the run 
down his side of the angle of the course, but fail- 
ing to head off the Catherine, the Percy veered to 
windw’^ard, her great white sails glinting in the sun- 
light, presenting a picture that called forth words 
of admiration from the Catherine's commander, 
though he divined her purpose. Then came flashes 
of flame and a great cloud of smoke as a broad- 
side roared from the frigate’s starboard battery, 
but she was still too far away to do serious damage 


207 


The Vigilant War Ships. 

and the sea was too rough for accurate gunnery. 
Slowly the pirate ship increased her lead and with 
ten miles between them^ the Lord Percy gave up 
the pursuit. 

LaCromie found the cruising in St. George’s 
Channel and Cardigan Bay full of exciting adven- 
ture, but not productive of prizes, as his escape 
from two British ships . a few days later was ef- 
fected only by the aid of the fog and the coming 
of darkness. Tlien he sailed southwest and two 
priz(?s were overhauled off Cork harbor and Ban- 
try Bay. The days had passed into weeks and the 
Catherine's bow was again pointed towards Le- 
Havre. He had not only lost a number of men, 
but the cockpit was still filled with wounded and 
it was necessary to bring the complement to the 
original Jiumber for successful cruising. The dis- 
tribution of the booty was made before reaching 
port and was conducted with all the punctilious 
attention to the equities of the pirate court. Where 
a dead sailor had a family, his share was set aside 
with the percentage that belonged to men who fell 
in combat added. The wounded also received ex- 
tra share in proportion to the nature of their in- 
juries, the loss of a finger, an eye or an ear be- 
ing compensated with an exact estimate of the 
worth of such parts of the body, the equivalent 
in gold or silver being carefully counted off; but 


2o8 For the House of LaGromle. 

as the Catherine had captured a large amount of 
valuable plunder^ every man’s share was large. 

Captain LaCromie sat in state and presided over 
the division. His breast glistened with jewels, an 
ermine cloth draped the back of his chair and no 
sovereign wielded more complete sway over his 
subjects. But buccaneer though he was, fearless 
in battle to the point of recklessness and ready for 
an emergency requiring courage, LaCromie was 
not a harsh master, but used the arts of the cav- 
alier instead of the brutality of the typical pirate 
chief; and his men looked upon him as nothing 
short of a prodigy of the seas. 

Six weeks from the day the LeHavre fortress 
boomed a salute to the outward bound privateer, 
the Catherine dropped anchor in the harbor, while 
the tri-cclor was flying from her spanker-gaff. An 
hour later. Monsieur M. Chaumette, the prefect, 
put off from the w^harf in Captain LaCromie’s 
gig, which was sent ashore for him. The Cath- 
erine's decks shone in the sunlight, her spars were 
polished, and the guns were burnished like gold. 
The visitor wns received wdth the eclat due an ad- 
miral, flattering the overweening vanity of the head 
of the Department of Safety, and soon he w^as 
L^romie’s guest in the cabin. 

‘^How does the Commune?” asked the pirate 
captain. 


209 


The Vigilant War Ships. 

^Ted with blood/^ 

^^Chopping off heads like so much corn-fodder 

^True, monsieur/^ 

^Tut they^re taking off the wrong heads/^ 

^^It were not wise for Monsieur LaCromie to ut- 
ter such sentiments/’ 

^^Yes^ yes/’ retorted LaCromie. ^^Join the club^, 
wear a red hat, talk loudly about liberty, but 
liberty has gone to the dogs. That’s why I am 
on the sea. But, listen, Monsieur Chaumette, T 
go on my next voyage to America to see my parents 
and come back with more riches — for Monsieur, 
the prefect — ^but when I return I enlist in the 
services of a saviour of my country. He surely 
will be upon the scene by that time.” 

LaCromie was growing vehement and the pre- 
fect placed his hand upon the arm of the pirate 
and checked him. He paced the floor excitedly, 
then asked abruptly: 

^^Has Marmande returned?” 

^^Came three nights ago.” 

^^Alone?” 

^^Ho, monsieur; a young man and a young wo- 
man came with him, but they are in danger — they 
are now suspected.” 

^^Suspicion raised by any vile hag sends your best 
blood to the guillotine,” retorted LaCromie with 
an oath, ^AVe will see whether the gossip of your 


210 For the House of LaCromie. 


knitting women will succeed. They lodge with 
Aubinr 

The prefect nodded. 

LaCromie walked to a locker and drew out a 
large box and handed the key to the prefect^ who 
opened the lid. The eyes of the covetous French 
official sparkled as he looked at the contents and 
he rubbed his hands indicative of his delight. 
Jewels and gold coin met his gaze — spoils of the 
recent cruise. LaCromie locked the box and 
handed the key to the prefect. 

^^This stuff will be taken to your house to-night/^ 
he said. ^^Now do your part.’^ 

M.' Chaumette was dismissed with due honor and 
LaCromie impatiently watched the receding sun, 
waiting for darkness. Duroc had been ashore get- 
ting recruits, who were easy to find, for rumors 
of the Catherine's booty were rife and at twilight 
he came aboard with a number of men. 

As three bells sounded, LaCromie with six 
trusted men was rowed ashore. He proceeded di- 
rectly to the house of Aubin, rapped gently at 
the door, and he and his companions were admitted 
by a white-bearded savant. 

Jacques,’^ said the venerable student, viewing 
the captain’s muscular form, ^dike your father. 
How fares the parents?” 

^Tannot tell, monsieur,” replied LaCromie 


21 I 


The Vigilant War Ships. 

sadly, ^‘hut I hope to see them in a few weeks.’^ 

Monsieur Aubin led the way into an adjoining 
room and a young girl, with blushing face, rose 
to meet the visitor. 

^Alademoiselle Lucille,^^ said LaCromie, gal- 
lantly bending and kissing the proffered hand, 
owe my life to your brave interposition.” 

^^But the greater debt is mine,” replied Lucille. 

‘^^Eoland Renaud,” exclaimed the pirate chief, 
warmly greeting his former keeper. ^^And Ma- 
dame Renaud, where is she?” 

A shade of sadness came over the daughter’s 
face and her eyes filled with tears. 

^^Has not fallen a prey to — ” 

^^hfo. Monsieur LaCromie,” interrupted the girl. 
^Tisease spared her that.” 

^^Marmande!” And the Catherine's commander 
slapped the broad shoulder of the stalwart sea- 
man with great affection. ^AVelldone! But while 
we tarry danger increases.” 

A loud knock at the front door resounded 
through the house and before the savant could re- 
spond to the summons there was a crash as the 
door was forced open by the pressure from without 
and a guard of six gendarmes entered the room. 
Pointing to Roland Renaud, Lucille and Mar- 
mande, the captain of the guard commanded : 

^^Take them.” 


212 For the House of LaCromie. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

A DAUGHTER OF FRANCE. 

The captain of the guard, a fussy little officer, 
had scarcely uttered his command before a blow 
from Marmande’s fist sent him reeling to the floor. 
The gendarmes, taken by surprise, not expecting 
resistance to a commission of the Republic, found 
themselves looking down the barrels of pistols. All 
of the guards were quickly disarmed, their coats 
and hats were taken by their captors and the sol- 
diers were then bound. 

^^Your lives will go out like that V’ said La- 
Cromie, snapping his fingers, ffif one of you re- 
sists or raises an alarm that will bring any of the 
members of that mob outside to your aid.’^ 

The sailors put on the uniforms of the gen- 
darmes, took their guns, and Roland and Lucille 
were handcuffed and put between the ranks. 

^^You are my prisoners, say not a word in the 
streets,^’ said LaCromie in a low tone. 


A Daughter of France. 213 

Taking Aubin aside be urged the savant to ac- 
company them^ but the scholar refused. 

will stay/^ he said firmly. am an old man, 
my time is nearly spent. If they want my life 
it but cuts off a few days. Go, Jacques, and save 
these young people.^^ 

LaCromie embraced the noble scientist and said : 
have planned with the prefect to say that you 
aided the Eepublic by entertaining my friends here. 
He will protect you.^^ 

^^Xot so, Jacques. I need no subterfuge. I 
gladly gave your friends shelter. Go, and heaven 
give you protection.’^ 

The crowd that had gathered outside had grown 
impatient and clamored to see the prisoners. Giv- 
ing the command, LaCromie led the way and passed 
quickly into the street with his guard. A howl of 
fiendish joy went up as the supposed gendarmes 
came out and Lucille shrank back with fear. The 
night was dark, there were but few torches in the 
street and the deception was not detected. La- 
Cromie moved with as great celerity as possible, 
but the howling throng impeded his progress. 
Twenty minutes that seemed hours to the young 
girl passed and she almost fainted from fright. 
Across the quay to the pier moved the surging mob 
about the prisoners. A boat came out of the dark- 
ness, the gendarmes pushed a path for Renaud and 


214 For the House of LaCromie. 

his sister and before the crowd had time to realize 
what had happened^, the prisoners and the guard 
were in the boat. A voice said : 

^AYe go to the fortress by water. And darkness 
soon hid the party. 

Silently but swiftly the boat moved towards the 
center of the harbor, where three red lights glim- 
mered. When morning came, the Catherine had 
disappeared. 

Eoland Eenaud stood by Captain LaCromie upon 
the poop deck of the pirate ship as the turrets of 
the castle prison faded from view in the gloom. 

fear for Monsieur Aubin,^^ said Eenaud. 
‘^AYould that he had come with us.’^ 

^^If trouble comes to him some illustrious heads 
in LeHavre will drop into the basket/^ 

^AYhat means monsieur ?” 

*^^The prefect of police is a thief and more than 
that. It can be shown that he has betrayed France. 
I placed a letter in the hands of Aubin giving 
some of the facts. If the prefect does not take 
care of my friend Aubin, all the worse for the head 
of the Department of Public Safety. Aubin will 
convey the information of the coup d’etat to-night 
to M. Chaumette. I told him to wait an hour, then 
do so.” 

Morning found the pirate ship far out on the 
bay, riding the white-crested waves. Lucille did 


A Daughter of France. 215 

not appear at the breakfast table in the cabin, 
while her brother was on deck furnishing the usual 
entertainment for the sailors in the initiatory cere- 
mony of getting his sea legs on; the seamen in 
the meantime offering all sorts of marine dainties 
to tempt the lost appetite of the landsman. 

^^The excitement was too much for made- 
moiselle/’ suggested Duroc. 

^That may be in her case/’ retorted the captain, 
^^but the explanation will scarcely fit the case of 
her brother out there on deck. Excitement does 
not usually work that way.” 

Stiff breezes sent the Catherine plowing over the 
waves and two days passed before Lucille could 
make her appearance on deck. She was pale, but 
LaCromie could not refrain from mental comments 
upon her beauty of face, which was very spiritual 
in its depth of expression, tenderness and pathos. 

‘^^Mon Lieu !” he exclaimed. Madonna 

aboard a pirate ship ! We have the devil here all 
the time. What a bride for my brother Jean. I 
wonder does the sweet fellow live?” 

^MIow fares mademoiselle?” he asked, approach- 
ing and bowing courteously. 

^Wery well for a land lubber,” she replied wdth 
a smile. 

And again LaCromie studied the beautiful face 
before him. 


2i6 For the House of LaCromie. 


^Turse the day I took the oath of St. John’s/’ 
he soliloquized. ^‘^But this is too fair a form for 
a buccaneer’s bride. Nay, I ruined one life. 
Would that she and Jean could meet. I’d empty 
my coffers for a bridal gift.” 

^^To what port, Captain, do we sail?” 

^^We are headed for Clare Island, off the west 
coast of Ireland. You and Roland will there be 
transferred to a ship for America.” 

^^Captain LaCromie shows great kindness, which 
I wish we could return.” 

^^Heavens, Mademoiselle Lucille, did you not 
risk your very head to la guillotine to get me out 
of the Conciergerie ? The great debt is mine. Talk 
not of making any return. But tell me of your 
escape from Paris. I have not yet had an oppor- 
tunity to hear Marmande’s story.” 

Beginning with his own escape from the dun- 
geon as the tumbrils were loading for the day’s 
slaughter Lucille recounted the scenes in Paris, the 
terrible days of blood, the coming of LaCromie’s 
trusted messenger and their journey to LeHavre, 
to which the pirate chief listened with intense in- 
terest. He asked many questions, then relapsed 
into silence and gazed out over the sea in deep con- 
templation. He was roused by a question from 
Lucille. 

^^Monsieur, the brave captain, has been very kind 


A Daughter of France. 217 

to me and he will not be offended if I ask him 
something 

^^Why, certainly not/’ he replied. 

She was silent for a few moments, then said: 

‘^^Captain LaCromie is a skilled mariner, a great 
fighter, I wish this was a ship of the French navy 
ins tea d — ins te a d — ” 

^^Of a pirate,” interrupted LaCromie with a 
good-natured smile. 

Lucille looked startled at her own boldness, but 
was encouraged by his manner and proceeded: 

^Toor France! She needs steady hands. Strong 
hands like yours. She is the prey of her own 
people and other nations, ^ while her sons and 
daughters are being butchered by the Commune! 
0, my God, how long shall this be?” 

She paced the deck and wrung her hands and 
LaCromie gazed with unfeigned admiration at the 
face more striking than ever, fired as it was with 
patriotic fervor. Tears followed the passionate 
outburst and after a few moments of silence, La- 
Cromie said: 

^‘Mademoiselle Lucille, this is my last pirate 
voyage. I shall go to Cuba for a short cruise, then 
to Port Norris in America, my parents’ home, af- 
ter which I shall return to France to tender my 
aid to the leader of my country, whoever he may 


2i8 For the House of LaCromle. 


be. My life and ray services shall be for the new 
France.^^ 

It was now Lncille^s turn to look with admira- 
tion upon LaCromie and placing her hand upon 
his arm, she exclaimed : 

^^Even had I paid forfeit to la guillotine, I 
would glory in a sacrifice that would give a strong 
arm and a stout heart to my bleeding country, 
from which I am now exiled.’^ 

sail on the port bow cried the lookout and 
the conversation was abruptly ended. 

LaCromie watched the approach of the vessel, 
but his thoughts were upon what Lucille had said 
and he pondered her sentences long and seriously. 
Pride and shame, aroused by the speech of the girl, 
w^ere tugging at his heart and he resolved to make 
his voyage short, then abandon piracy. Like many 
a man he was going to reform day after to-mor- 
row. Her sentiments about his native country 
w^ere his own and he longed to get beneath the 
standard of a leader who would emancipate sunny 
France from her thraldom of blood. 

The strange vessel was a brig, which came on 
until within five miles of the Catherine, then sud- 
denly put her helm down and w^ent on a course 
directly south. The black fiag had evidently just 
been discovered by her commander. LaCromie 
watched the fiight of the brig in silence and the 


A Daughter of France. 219 

crew marvelled that no order was given to follow. 

^^There’s no need for that fellow to hurry away/^ 
he said to Duroc, who stood awaiting orders. 
will not trouble him. It is scarcely fit to do the 
deviFs business with an angel on board.^^ 

Duroc looked at his commander with aston- 
ishment depicted upon his face and LaCromie 
smiled as he met his officer’s gaze. 

^^You brought a choice lot of cutthroats on 
board at LeHavre^ Duroc/’ said the captain^ ^^and 
I don’t know how they would behave. They would 
want to murder everybody on board for the sake 
of a few francs and they must be tamed a bit be- 
fore they are turned upon the deck of another 
ship.” 

^‘^This is a new code to me/’ replied the officer. 

^^Just keep on your course, Duroc; we will have 
better game than that tub going there. In the 
meantime, keep your weather eye upon that man 
Seville you took on with your bandits. He is 
lean and wolfish-looking, and may breed trouble. 
It may be necessary to make him stretch hemp 
before we get through with that gang.” 

LaCromie paced the deck in silence, occasion- 
ally looking up at the disappearing brig, whose 
course was still south. The words of Lucille were 
still uppermost in his mind and a vision of future 
glory for France in which he would share danced 


220 For the House of LaCromle. 


before his eyes. The thought of revenge was still 
uppermost, but it was retribution against the 
leaders of the Commune for which he sighed and 
to which he now pledged himself. 

Two weeks passed before the Catherine sighted 
Clare Island. Two ships lay at anchor off a lee 
shore. The familiar ensign of a stork floated from 
the masthead of each vessel and the pirate ship 
sailed in and dropped anchor between the boats. 
LaCromie’s gig was lowered and he called to pay 
his respects to the ship on his starboard, the 
Brabant. As he stepped on the main deck a 
thick-set man waddled forward to greet the pirate 
chief and he laughed silently as his moustache 
caressed his nose. 

^^Likely to find you, Schneider, any place where 
money is to be made,^^ was LaCromie’s greeting. 

^^Yah, but France poor place for money to make 
just now,” and the Dutch merchant rubbed one 
hand across the palm of the other in a suggestive 
way. 

Wanted your head in LeHavre?” queried La- 
Cromie. 

Schneider shrugged his shoulders, then put his 
hands to his neck as though to assure himself that 
his head was still there. 

^^0, la guillotine did not get it,” laughed the 
pirate chief, ^Though before I get done with you 


A Daughter of France. 221 

to-day I probably will wish that it had. I have 
a good lot of stuff aboard ship for you to work 
your business game on me. When I come back 
you can buy my ship.^^ 

^^She is mine already.” 

^^At the right price she is.” 

^‘But why you go oud of dese brofitable beezi- 
nees ?” 

^^Mon Deiu, profitable ! Yes, committing rob- 
bery and murder to make you rich.” 

^^But vat you do?” 

^^One more voyage, then go back and fight for 
France.” 

^^Yell, dere vill be no one left to fight by dat 
time. Dere vill be nudding but people mitout 
heads. But how you fight? For dis madcap, red- 
cap beesiness?” 

^^Yever ! For a new empire !” 

LaCromie touched the hilt of his sword, and his 
face lighted up with patriotic fervor; but it dark- 
ened immediately. A shot rang out over the water, 
followed by rapid discharge of firearms, mingled 
with hoarse cries, and men were seen upon the 
deck of the Catherine in fierce conflict. 

^^There’s need to do some fightings over dere 
before you go to France,” said the Dutch mer- 
chant. 

But LaCromie had bounded over the bulwarks 


222 For the House of LaCromie. 


and was already running down the ship’s ladder. 
Springing into his gig, he commanded: 

^Tull away lively, my hearties. There’s mutiny 
•On the Catherine r 


Last Cruise of the Catherine. 223 


CHAPTEK XXVL 

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE CATHERINE. 

The distance between the Brabant and the 
pirate ship was less than a quarter of a mile and 
the gig was soon at the Catherine's side. Bullets 
whizzed over the heads of the men in the captain’s 
boat as they approached, hut none took effect. 
While LaCromie was hastening to the scene of con- 
flict, which seemed every minute to increase in 
fury, the rigging of the merchant ships was fllled 
with sailors eagerly watching the flght aboard the 
pirate vessel, for their own fate depended upon the 
outcome of the struggle. 

As LaCromie ran up the ladder of the Catherine 
a seaman armed with a cutlass disputed his pas- 
sage at the top, hut was driven back by a hard 
blow on the arm by the captain's sword. As sur- 
mised by the pirate commander, Seville was at the 
head of the mutineers, who comprised the major 
portion of the new men taken aboard at LeHavre, 
while several members of the old crew were in the 


224 Foi* the House of LaCromie. 

conspiracy. Dnroc and his men^ taken by sur- 
prise, were grouped forward in a hand-to-hand 
encounter and as LaCromie came over the ship’s 
side a cheer went up from the defenders of the 
Catherine. Hushing down the deck the pirate cap- 
tain dashed at Seville, who with sword and pistol 
w^as in the forefront of the attacking party. 

^^Curse you,” hissed the chief of the mutineers. 
^^I’ll put an end to you here. This is my ship.” 

He raised his pistol to lire, but it was knocked 
from his hand by LaCromie’s sword. Then a ter- 
rific blow was aimed at Seville’s head, but was par- 
ried dextrously, and before he could recover he was 
thrust through by the Catherine's comm^ander and 
he fell to the deck gasping in his death throes. 

AVith the fall of their leader, the mutineers sur- 
rendered. They numbered twenty-five at the out- 
break, but five lay dead and eight were seriously 
w^ounded. The prisoners were bound, grouped with 
the forecastle gun trained upon them and a sailor 
stood with the lanyard in hand waiting for the 
command to fire. A figure in white came rapidly 
dowm the deck and knelt upon the blood-stained 
planks of the ship and raised her hands to Captain 
LaCromie, while every eye was turned towards 
the unusual scene. 

^^Spare these men, monsieur, I implore you! 
Do not further stain your hands with blood 1” 


Last Cruise of the Catherine. 225 

^^These cutthroats have committed the worst 
crime known to the sea, Mademoiselle Lucille, and 
deserve to die. But it is not meet for you to be 
kneeling here to me begging the lives of such 
wretches.^^ 

^^But will you not grant my prayer?^’ 

did not intend to shoot them. That gun is 
to keep them from further mischief. They would 
have murdered you along with the others on this 
ship had they succeeded in capturing the vessel. 
I grant your petition, mademoiselle, but not for 
their sakes.’^ 

Lucille, with a face upon which shone a light 
in strange contrast with the features darkened 
by passion about her, rose to thank the captain and 
a ray of hope shone in the eyes of the miserable 
group that awaited death before the shotted can- 
non. 

^^Captain LaCromie,^^ asked one of the culprits, 
^^may I have a word with you?^^ 

Glancing at the man as though he would pierce 
him through, the pirate commander pondered a 
few moments, then told the speaker to proceed. 

^^We have no right to plead for mercy, for we 
don’t deserve it, but the man who led us into this 
lies there dead. He has his just deserts. He de- 
ceived us, but we swear to obey you faithfully if 
we will be permitted to remain with your crew.” 


226 For the House of LaCromle. 


^^And you ask this with four of my good men 
lying there on the deck and others wounded?"’ 

The gleam of hope left the faces of the pris- 
oners and the crew awaited in silence the doom of 
the conspirators. The spokesman was a young 
man of regular features, a fresh, open face, and 
LaCromie was surprised to see him among the con- 
federates of Seville. He was known aboard ship 
as Henri Meziere. 

^^Where is your home?"" 

^^iSTantes."" 

^^How long have you been away from Nantes?"" 

^^Five years."" 

^^Where have you been?’" 

‘^On the ocean."" 

^^Your parents living?"" 

^*They are, sire."" 

^‘^What does your father do?"" 

^^Sea captain."" 

“What ship does he command?"" 

^Tle was in Paris when I last had word from 
him, but before that he commanded the Mayenne, 
which was lost at sea."" 

^Ts your name Meziere?"" 

^Tlenri Meziere Poiters."" 

^^Release him !"’ commanded LaCromie, and the 
order was promptly obeyed. ^^The other men, 


Last Cruise of the Catherine. 227 

Diiroc, confine in the brig for the present, but treat 
them well/^ 

^^That girl on this ship has put all sorts of queer 
notions into the head of Captain LaCromie/^ mum- 
bled the Catherine's first officer as he marched his 
prisoners down the companionway. ^^Every one of 
these fellows should be sent to Davey Joneses' 
locker.’' And Duroc muttered a deep oath. 

Weights were tied to the bodies of the dead mu- 
tineers and they were tossed overboard with as little 
concern as though they had been dogs, but the 
pirate slain were committed to the sea with naval 
honors. 

The Catherine's cargo of captured merchandise 
was transferred to Schneider’s ships, one of which 
was bound for Rotterdam and the other for Phila- 
delphia, and after a few days the Brabant, with Ro- 
land and Lucille Eenaud as passengers, hoisted 
sail for the voyage to America. A well-filled bag 
of coin was LaCromie’s farewell gift to Roland, 
which he insisted Renaiid should take as a little 
show of appreciation of his great services. 

The Catherine's bow was pulled up on the sand 
at high water and for a week the crew were kept 
busy preparing for the cruise to the West Indies. 
In this labor, Henri Poiters and his fellow-con- 
spirators evinced great readiness for the most ex- 
acting tasks, a fact that did not escape the eye of 


228 For the House of LaCromie. 

the Catherine's commander. When the pirate ship 
was ready to sail, all of the men engaged in the 
mutiny were publicly reinstated and Poiters was 
made boatswain. The decision was received with 
all of the effusiveness and abandon of the French 
sailor and cutlasnes flashed in air and there rang 
out over the waters to the little village on shore 
the cry: 

^^LaCromie! LaCromie! Vive la Catherine!" 

The course of the Catherine lay south to the 
Azores and flying the French tri-color, LaCromie 
boldly put into port, took a survey and stood out 
to sea. Two Spanish galleons were in for a fresh 
supply of water, but as the French privateer was 
not in sight, they hoisted sail and the following day 
were looted by the Catherine's crew. Then the 
pirate ship headed for the West Indies. 

As day after day passed without sighting a 
sail the crew of the Catherine grew restless and 
there was general relief when the Great Bahama 
was sighted and the men were permitted to go 
ashore. LaCromie desired to secure a supply of 
fresh water and fruit, as well as to give his crew 
an opportunity for recreation, but the conduct of 
the seamen in their wild orgies almost proved the 
undoing of the buccaneers. The hostile attitude 
of the natives was not heeded until a general at- 
tack was made upon the crew of the Catherine. 


Last Cruise of the Catherine. 229 

Caught some distance from the beach six of the 
pirates were slain, while a shower of arrows fell 
about the men as they retreated towards the Cath- 
erine's boats. While LaCromie, with his men 
grouped on the beach, was repelling the assault 
of the natives, a gun from the Catherine was 
trained upon the islanders, who tied to the woods. 

Prizes brought much booty to the buccaneers 
in a month’s cruise about Cuba and other islands 
of the archipelago, then across the Gulf of Mexico, 
along the Mexican coast, through the Gulf of Cam- 
peche, around Yucatan to Honduras, moved the 
pirate ship plundering and destroying. Success 
made Captain LaCromie and his wolves of the sea 
reckless and audacious. With his ship’s hold full 
of plunder that he desired to convert into silver 
and gold, he turned the Catherine's prow north- 
ward after orgies ashore at the Kuatan Islands and 
a fight wiih the natives, who drove the buccaneers 
off after a battle in which LaCromie suffered the 
loss of several more men. 

Back across the Gulf of Mexico, storm-swept for 
a week, the Catherine was driven far out of her 
course, then down the western coast of Florida, 
through the Florida Keys, the pirate ship, weather- 
beaten, headed for Delaware Bay. Pursuing 
merchintmen, battling with heavy seas off Cape 
Hatteras, often in peril of floundering, the Cath- 


230 For the House of LaCromie. 

erine made her way and found favoring winds 
and less boisterous seas off Hampton Eoads. 

It was eight months since he had sailed from 
Clare Island and the Catherine was a veritable 
treasure ship ; but still unsatisfied LaCromie 
chased an American brigantine into the Chesa- 
peake Bay, to be pursued in turn by the American 
revenue cutter, Savannah, a swift and natty boat 
that kept up the chase until darkness enabled the 
Catherine to escape, but not until shots from the 
cutter’s guns had damaged the rigging of the 
pirate ship. 

A week later the Catherine rounded Cape Hen- 
lopen and stood across the mouth of the Delaware 
Bay towards the New Jersey coast. A flood of 
memories came in upon the captain of the pirate 
ship as he stood upon the poop-deck and gazed 
towards Cape May Point, around which the shal- 
lop had sailed bearing him to his destiny. The 
sun was sinking behind the Delaware hills and a 
golden glow was upon the water of the bay and the 
distant shore was tinted the same roseate hue. 
The Catherine hugged the Jersey side of the bay 
and at eight bells the pirate ship rounded the sharp 
nose of East Point and rode into Morris Kiver 
Cove. An hour later she dropped anchor. 

The autumn had come and at daylight the Cath- 
erine was enveloped in an impenetrable fog. The 


Last Cruise of the Catherine. 231 

sun came out brightly as the morning wore on 
and the mists were gradually dispelled, reveal- 
ing the dancing waters of the broad bay and like- 
wise the form of an armed vessel flying the starry 
ensign of the American Kepublic. It was the 
revenue cutter Savannah, and she was bearing 
down upon the Catherine. She was a schooner- 
rigged vessel and was sailing close hauled under 
foresail, mainsail and jib, all topsails being furled. 

The American carried eight broadside guns and 
one long gun forward and coming within easy 
range poured a broadside into the pirate ship, 
then swung about and stood off before the Cath- 
erine was in position for a reply. The Savannah's 
shot tore into the sides of the pirate ship and 
worked death to the men on the gun deck, a num- 
ber falling through the effective gunnery. Follow- 
ing up her advantage the cutter came back to the 
attack quickly and crossing the Catherine's bow, 
fired rapidly with broadside and musketry, the 
small fire being directed into the rigging to drive 
the sailors from the spars. 

With her fore and aft sails the. American was 
more easily handled than the French ship, while 
a galling fire was kept up by the cutter, wounding 
many of LaCromie’s men. Ten minutes after the 
battle began, Duroc fell with a grape-shot through 
his head, while Boatswain Poiters, who ran to the 


232 For the House of LaCromle. 

wheel to take the place of the helmsman^ who had 
been shot down^ was hurled lifeless upon the deck 
by a ball from one of the Savannah's guns. 

With a depleted crew and surprised by the ene- 
my, of whose presence he had not dreamed, La- 
Cromie was at a disadvantage from the start, but 
though his gun deck was already strewn with blood, 
he rallied his men and sailing side by side the ves- 
sels engaged in a desperate battle. The Catherines 
forecastle gunners were picked off by the muske- 
teers of the cutter, who fired with deady aim, 
while the dead and wounded lay around the gun 
carriages. 

The rigging of the Catherine was torn and cut^ 
her main braces were shot away and she became 
unmanageable, enabling the American cutter to 
round her at will, first passing astern, delivering 
a broadside, then standing off and coming back un- 
der the bow and raking the deck. LaCromie could 
only reply to the first manoeuvre with a volley of 
musketry from the stern of the ship, but trained 
the bow gun upon his alert enemy as she came up, 
but as he pointed the piece he staggered and fell 
to the deck with a wound in his leg. He crawled 
to the gun and fired as the Savannah crossed his 
bow, but a withering fire of cannon shot and 
musketry swept his ship and he dropped again with 
a bullet in his breast. 


Last Cruise of the Catherine. 233 

Again the American cutter circled about her 
antagonist^ delivering a broadside. A feeble re- 
ply from a single gun came from the Catherine, 
then firing ceased. Smoke was seen coming from 
a stern port of the pirate ship and two boats 
quickly put off from the cutter. A young lieuten- 
ant, stalwart in form, was the first man to step upon 
the gory deck of the pirate ship. But five men 
had escaped wounds, while about the guns was the 
story, written in ghastly faces set in death, of the 
terrible effects of the cutter’s fire. One of the 
pirates pointed towards the forecastle and the 
American officer walked to the prostrate form of 
the Catherine's commander, who was lying mor- 
tally wounded. 

^^Great heavens, Jacques LaCromie, you?” cried 
the startled lieutenant, kneeling by the dying man. 

^^Yes, Ben Loveland, you have finished me,” said 
the pirate captain faintly. will soon be gone. 
Give me your hand, Ben. I wronged you and 
wronged Bessie. Tell my father and mother I 
tried to avenge their wrongs, that I was coming 
to see them to-day, then go back to fight for 
France.” 

The }oung lieutenant watched the heaving bos- 
om, the breathing grew fainter and he thought the 
Catherine's commander had passed away, but the 


234 For the House of LaCromie. 


dying pirate chief suddenly opened his eyes^ partly 
raised his body and called out: 

^^All hands on— ” 

And he fell back dead. 

A shallop touched the side of the ship and two 
men^ father and son^ hastened across the deck and 
bent over the form of the dead captain and burst 
into passionate tears. 

^^My boy/^ cried the elder of the two. ‘^Had I 
known last night you were so near home 

A bullet hole in the coat with its glistening dec- 
orations was blood-stained and the father gently 
bared the breast of his dead son and suspended 
around his neck was a gold cross with a jeweled 
lily bathed in the life current of the pirate com- 
mander. 

Dark smoke and flashes of flame were issuing 
from the cabin of the Catherine and the body of 
her captain was carried to the ship’s side by the 
father and son, assisted by Lieutenant Ben Love- 
land and the survivors of the pirate vessel. Then 
the wind carried the Catherine slowly towards the 
beach at the fishermen’s settlement until she 
grounded near the village ; and as the shallop bore 
its sad burden across the cove to the mouth of 
Morris Kiver, a great burst of flame and smoke 
came from the burning ship, followed by a roar 


Last Cruise of the Catherine. 235 

that resounded over the waters — the flames liad 
reached the magazine. 

In the twilight of that day, a little company 
of mourners stood beside the open grave near the 
LaCromie farmhouse. In the group were the 
father and mother, their son Jean with his fair 
bride from across the sea, while Eoland Eenaud 
performed the office of sexton. And as the sun 
shone upon the many tinted leaves of the trees on 
the following morning, Jean and Lucille carried a 
little board and placed it at the head of the mound. 
Upon it was the simple inscription: 

Captain Jacques LaCromie, 

Our Brother. 


THE END. 


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